


I thought we were meant to be better

by CelestialIguana



Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone just wants to be happy, Fairy! Hongbin, Fairy! Jaehwan, Fairy! Taekwoon, Lee Gahyeon - Freeform, Lee Siyeon - Freeform, Let's just ignore plot holes please, M/M, No beta lol, Slow Burn, Vampire! Hakyeon, Vampire! Sanghyuk, Vampire! Wonsik, cameo by some dreamcatcher members
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2020-03-29 22:39:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 92,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19029400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialIguana/pseuds/CelestialIguana
Summary: There's a war.It's Taekwoon's job. It's Hakyeon's job, too. They both hate it. So far, that's the only thing they have in common. There's more, though. They would see if they took a second to actually talk instead of dancing around each other with ridiculously complex military maneuvers.Sanghyuk doesn't really care. He's just here because he dropped out of high school and the vampires don't require a GED to work for their espionage corps. It's the easy way out. Jaehwan actually enjoys what he does. He gets to walk around and tell other fairies what do do all day. Of course, he has to deal with Taekwoon, walking rain cloud, as his boss. So there's that.Hongbin and Wonsik know what they want, and they know it's each other. They've known that since the second they laid eyes on other. But things are hard when life decides to come at them with the speed of a truck. They're making it work. For now.





	1. Chapter 1

Hakyeon actually didn’t hate fairies. He would like everyone to know this. Enough with the racist bullshit about fairies and vampires being mortal enemies. Fairies weren’t bad people; yes, they’re kind of bitchy and would talk you in circles and most care more about their hair than their parents but they’re not _bad_ people. His feelings, most of the time, trended towards apathy. Except for this particular moment, because he was sprinting through a muddy forest and it was raining like the end of the fucking world and branches were ripping his expensive-as-fuck coat to shreds and right now, fairies were the absolute _worst_ creatures that existed on this shitty excuse of a planet.

 

But there wasn’t time to curse the existence of the stupidly oversized insects because a whole squadron of them was buzzing through the trees close on his heels like a swarm of annoyed bees. Hakyeon ducked a tree branch, glancing behind him with a savage grin to see one of the fairies tangle themself in the offending branch, limply fluttering wings wrenched behind her. _That’s what you get for chasing a vampire in the dark, you winged idiot,_ he thought. _We can actually fucking see._ One of the perks of being undead.

 

Hakyeon’s a nice vampire. Or as nice as a vampire can be, what with the necessary blood drinking and all that unpleasant business. Or at least that’s what he would tell you, if asked. Of course, who in their right mind walks up to a vampire and thinks to ask if they happen to be one of the nice ones? Odds are the curious human walks out with a little less blood than they came in with. But no, Hakyeon truly does his best to keep some morals. He doesn’t kill humans- often (sometimes they can be _incredibly_ irritating). He only feeds when necessary- although _necessary_ tends to mean _quite frequently_. And he makes his own judgement calls, one of the most important traits in these times. No stuck up old men in a dusty ass room tell Hakyeon what to do. (The vampire Parliament actually did tell Hakyeon what to do, because as the captain of the espionage corps, Hakyeon was required by law to obey. Mostly he just considered the order for a bit over tea, because coffee was the devil’s drink and he may be undead but he has no wish to be any more dead, and decided the order was worth carrying out.)

 

Which, in his current predicament, he definitely regretted. It was supposed to be a simple, routine mission; sneak into a fairy encampment just east of the Catskills in a little state park, find some maps, take some pictures, get out. But it’s never that easy, Hakyeon grumbled as another tree appeared out of _fucking nowhere_ , as trees apparently did now, and he narrowly avoided scarring his face for life. He would heal, but that was beside the point. Hakyeon was dramatic like that. Sanghyuk liked to tease him about his vanity, but that was just because Sanghyuk didn’t have the flawless skin Hakyeon was blessed with. _And I’d like to see Sanghyuk sprint through a muddy forest without running into a tree, that clumsy muscle child,_ Hakyeon thought.

 

With one last burst of speed- fairies were fast in open air, but flying between dense trees wasn’t their forte- Hakyeon cleared the forest and emerged onto a stretch of flat land, over which he saw the getaway car. Or boat really, bobbing gently in the Hudson River. Actually it was a stretch to even call the tiny dinghy he was given a boat. Hollowed-out log then, he decided. I need to make a request for more funding. Espionage, in Hakyeon’s knowledgeable opinion, deserved at least more money than the naval forces. Fairies couldn’t even fight over running water. In the distance, a lounging figure splayed himself out on the grassy shore, face tilted into the rain.

 

“Han Sanghyuk!” Hakyeon’s voice cut through the static of the rain like a knife. He had a lot of skill shouting at people. This made him very proud.

 

The figure lurched to his feet and fumbled for the oars resting beside him with an absolute lack of all grace, an impressive feat for a vampire. Especially one specializing in reconnaissance, Jesus Christ. Sanghyuk’s hair was slicked back from hours spent in the rain and bits of grass stuck to his cheek. In that moment, he looked as young as he actually was.

 

Han Sanghyuk was an anomaly. He’d been turned at 17, younger than most (and actually against the law; vampires weren’t allowed to turn minors. Hakyeon still didn’t know how he’d done it). He’d applied for reconnaissance about a year later and been rejected on the basis of his age and lack of experience. He then climbed into Hakyeon’s seventh story apartment in the middle of the night, bypassed all security, and asked to be reconsidered. Hakyeon had reconsidered. Now Sanghyuk was the youngest First Lieutenant in history and frankly did an amazing job, expect Hakyeon did not need his sass right now.

 

Sanghyuk assessed the situation with a crooked grin and a gleam in his eyes.

 

“This was supposed to be a secret mission, Hakyeon, didn’t you know?”

 

Hakyeon reached the boat, out of breath and panting and now fuming at his insolent subordinate. Because yeah, of course it was supposed to be a secret mission, he was the captain of the fucking _spy corps_. But the maps had been magicked in a way they shouldn’t have been able to be. There had been subtle magic protecting those maps, and Hakyeon had unthinkingly triggered the alarm. But really, it’s not his fault. How was he supposed to know the fairies had gotten some one to magic the maps. And as a vampire Hakyeon couldn’t sense magic hidden with that level of skill. Being undead deadened some of your senses. Hakyeon snickered at his mental pun.

 

And then became more serious as he remembered the feel of the magic. Although he couldn’t anticipate the magical alarm, most casters have a distinct brand, a memorable feel to their magic. And Hakyeon knew exactly who’s magic this was. Some of his previous joy returned as he thought about that particular fairy grumpily picking his way through the forest to magic the maps. He’d hate that, Hakyeon knew. And felt a kind of savage joy in knowing that he’d ruined the fairy’s plans.

 

Most of the fairies had gotten lost in the chase, but a few stragglers hadn’t gotten the message and were just now appearing out of the dense trees. Hakyeon grabbed for the oars in Sanghyuk’s hands.

 

Sanghyuk screeched as Hakyeon slapped him over the head with the blade of one of the oars. “I am your superior and 29 years older than you. I will throw you to the pixies. Get in the fucking boat.”

 

Sanghyuk got in the fucking boat.

 

Hakyeon rowed out into the middle of the Hudson, the fairies watching from the bank of the river, wings and fingers sparking. Fairies had a thing about running water. Something about the constant motion messing with their magic. Hakyeon wasn't too sure. But he knew enough to finally relax. He took a deep, calming breath and settled more comfortably into the sad excuse of a boat, pleased that the rain was finally easing off.

 

“So what’d you fuck up.”

 

Hakyeon turned to glare at Sanghyuk and huffed indignantly, turning up his nose. “How dare you imply I fucked up.” Sanghyuk looked like he didn’t believe him at all, which was frankly insulting. "For your information, it wasn’t my fault at all.”

 

Sanghyuk grinned. “Of course not, the Fae just decided to _spontaneously_ take a walk into the raining, miserable-as-fuck forest and _happened_ to find a miserable-as-fuck vampir-”

 

Hakyeon cut him off with a sharp slap to the neck. “There was heavy magic on those maps, you imbecile. You’re lucky I’m not cursed.” Which was the weird thing, wasn't it. Because those maps, by all rights, shouldn’t have been magicked. They should have been lying in the squadron leader’s tent, unprotected, _un-magicked_ , like they had been at the last four Fae outposts Hakyeon had hit in the past two months. But this outpost had gotten the attention of one particular fairy, a fairy who’s magic felt like the ocean, vast and powerful and cleansing but also burning with salt brine and crashing waves, and Hakyeon knew that magic like he knew his own face. Even in a simple warding spell, the subtly and skill woven in was obvious. Hakyeon hadn’t felt a comparable level of magic from any other fairy since.

 

“The alarm went off the second I stepped into the tent,” Hakyeon continued. A horrible sound, high and piercing, engineered specifically to incapacitate vampires. Fortunately, Hakyeon was experienced and could handle a good bit more than some nails on a chalkboard level irritation.

 

Sanghyuk narrowed his eyes at Hakyeon. “You know whose magic it was,” he said, smiling in realization. Hakyeon remained silent. Sometimes Sanghyuk was too perceptive for his own good.

 

“You can’t not tell me,” his second continued. Sanghyuk’s leg bounced up and down rapidly. He probably didn’t even know he was doing it. Hakyeon would have to train him out of that. Bad form and all that, to let people see your emotions so obviously.

 

Hakyeon sighed. “Yes, I know whose magic it was,” he admitted. “But I’m not telling you, because-”

 

“You’re not telling me because it’s that fairy boyfr-”

 

Hakyeon slapped Sanghyuk with the oar again, but this time it was wet and dumped water down the back of the second’s shirt. A green weed flopped onto Sanghyuk’s head. Sanghyuk flicked it off. “He’s not my boyfriend, he’s not my friend, he’s literally the commander of the Fae forces and if you say one more word I will throw you overboard and cut your pay.” But Hakyeon could admit that his magic felt… nice.

 

Sanghyuk grinned. That fucker. Hakyeon could have him court-martialed for insubordination. (He’d never do that, though, and Sanghyuk knew it. He was too good of a second and Hakyeon was too sentimental. They had only been working together for about five months, but Hakyeon got attached fast. Time was an illusion, you know. Especially when you were immortal.)

 

“Ok, but did you get the pictures,” Sanghyuk said, reaching around Hakyeon to grope his back pockets for the phone. Sanghyuk was like that- overly touchy and straightforward. Hakyeon supposed it had something to do with the fact that he was turned as a high schooler, but that was a level of psychoanalysis he wasn’t ready to unpack yet. Hakyeon scooted his ass out of reach of Sanghyuk and took the phone out of his boot. His clothes were drying a little now that the rain had stopped. His poor jacket though, probably unsalvageable. It was almost morning, and the sun peeked out over the dissipating rain clouds.

 

He gave Sanghyuk a wink, dangling the phone between his fingers triumphantly.

 

“Of course I got the pictures,” Hakyeon grinned, fangs glinting in the rising sun. “I’m the best fucking spy in New York.”

 

 

~~~

 

 

Taekwoon actually didn’t hate vampires. They made him kind of squeamish, he supposed, with all the blood and gore and _biting_ , but they weren’t all bad people. (He’d never tell anyone, but one of his friends once slept with a vampire and told him that being bitten by one was literally the hottest thing ever, and since then it’s always been in the back of his mind.) But regardless, he didn’t really felt the hate some of his fellow Fae held for the bloodsuckers. More of a you-do-you, don’t suck my blood please kind of thing. Not that Taekwoon couldn’t hold his own; he just leaned more towards academia and strategy than actual fighting. At heart, he was a pacifist. Which was why it was odd that he commanded a good half of the elite Fae aerial force. But, sat at his desk with an email from his second opened on his computer, Taekwoon reconsidered his stance on the matter.

 

How the fuck did _one vampire_ manage to sneak into and then out of five pixie camps within two months? Taekwoon groaned, resting his forehead against the cool wood of his desk, already feeling the oncoming migraine and paperwork this kleptomaniacal vamp was about to cause him. He had even made a special visit out of this city to the last camp and magicked their maps for them! A special visit, out into the wet, nature-y forests filled with roots specifically designed to trip unsuspecting fairies. There’s a reason, Taekwoon thought, that we were given wings. We should not have to _walk_. The magic was meant to prevent the vampire from learning valuable information about the maneuver Taekwoon had been about to start, a maneuver months in the making, all for nothing now that the vamps knew everything. With a supreme effort Taekwoon pulled himself off his desk and rubbed his eyes.

 

“Jaehwan,” he called.

 

The dark stained wooden door opened almost immediately, like Jaehwan had been standing right outside, waiting for his call. Which, Taekwoon supposed, was his job as second in command. Well, good for him. At least someone did their job right. Those faeries needed to be fired.

 

Jaehwan stepped into the office, dyed-blond hair matched perfectly to his button down, and stood in front of Taekwoon’s desk, hands clasped behind his back with a folder tucked under one arm, silver earrings glinting under the harsh, fluorescent lighting. Taekwoon wanted a new office, but Jaehwan liked it here, at the very top of a ridiculously opulent skyscraper in downtown Manhattan, and a happy second made life so much easier. Taekwoon allowed himself a moment to think about all those emails he didn’t have to read.

 

“Sit down. I see right through that Oh-I’m-A-Professional act of yours,” Taekwoon said, gesturing to a chair in front of his desk. Jaehwan’s previously serious face cracked into a wide grin, eyes wrinkling up at the corners. Just yesterday, Taekwoon had unwittingly commented on his second’s lack of professionalism in the workplace, (a perfectly valid comment after Jaehwan had showed up to the office in a pair of jeans that hugged his legs like a second skin and a shirt that loudly proclaimed _Vampires Can Suck My Dick Not My Blood_ ) and Jaehwan had made it his mission to act as professional as possible.

 

Turns out, to no one’s surprise, Jaehwan couldn’t do professional if it was naked in his bed.

 

Jaehwan tossed himself into the chair sideways, long legs crossed over one of the arms, folder across his lap. He was completely incapable of sitting in a chair properly. Jaehwan probably thought it added to his carefully groomed air of nonchalance. “What’s the plan, boss?” he asked. “That vamp kind of fucked us over.”

 

Taekwoon’s head returned to its preferred location, rested against his desk with the long suffering depression of Not Wanting To Think About Anything Anymore. Because that was the question, wasn't it. What did Taekwoon do now that the vamps knew about the carefully planned strategy that had been going to bring an end to this futile battle. He lifted his head just enough to squint at Jaehwan through his bangs. Jaehwan returned his steady gaze.

 

“I have no idea.” Having delivered the important information, Taekwoon slumped further down into his chair, fingers tangled in his hair. He swore it was thinning; by the time this war was over there would be none left, and then he would really hate the vampires. But who knew when the war would be over.

 

The war. The War. You could hear the capital W when people mentioned it. It’s all anyone talked about now, even though both vampires and fairies were immortal and literally had _all of history_ to discuss. Taekwoon hated it. He barely remembered what started it. Something to do with an alleged assassination of a Fae ambassador that wasn’t alleged at all, with the drained body of the Fae to prove it, and the vamps 100% denying any involvement even though _that’s a drained body of course it was a vampire do you expect us to convict fucking rabbit._ Later on it was revealed through a series of carefully stolen Fae letters that the ambassador had been an assassin sent to kill a Parliamentarian for reasons of which no one was quite sure. So what it comes down to, Taekwoon reflected, was the mutual stupidity of one narrow minded group assuming the other was worse, and acting on that belief with a provincial solution. And in one of nature’s great ironies, both acted at the same time, leaving the indelible consequences for future generations to attempt to clean up as best they could.

 

Sometimes Taekwoon hated his ancestors more than vampires.

 

A cough jolted him out of his sulking. Jaehwan was still lounging in his chair across from him picking at his cuticles, waiting for Taekwoon to think up some life-saving strategy, because that was his job, goddamnit, and Taekwoon had to be better at his job than those incapable pixies.

 

Taekwoon turned his head sideways on the desk so he could see better. “Explain to me how that vampire got past my alarms,” he said. Because Taekwoon had put a pretty solid pitch-based warning spell on the maps that should have triggered the second someone looked at the maps with the intent to steal, and the resulting shriek should have dropped any average vamp to the ground.

 

Jaehwan refocused on Taekwoon and shuffled through the file he had brought in with him, paper rustling. Taekwoon took a second to wonder why they still used paper maps. It was the 21st century. Time to adapt. Jaehwan looked over the pixies’ statement. “The report just says ‘unaffected’.” Taekwoon frowned.

 

“Unaffected?” That wasn’t possible. Not unless- but not, that was unlikely. Taekwoon can’t jump to conclusions yet.

 

Jaehwan shrugged, lips pressed together. “Yeah, maybe the guards got it wrong?” Which was always a possibility, but-

 

“They aren’t that bad,” Taekwoon said. “There’s no way they would have missed a vampire passed out on the ground, meaning that-”

 

“The alarm really didn’t affect them,” Jaehwan cut in. “But we don’t actually know yet if they got the information. The maps were left behind.”

 

“Did they send us the maps?” If Taekwoon could just check the maps he could analyze the magic residue left over, because Taekwoon was nothing if not meticulous. He always built failsafes into his spells, little cameras that recorded what had happened (they were originally called clars, but no one spoke the old Gaelic anymore. Unless you were Lee Hongbin and had a fucking PhD in ancient languages of power, but as far as Taekwoon knew Hongbin was the only one).

 

Jaehwan nodded, flipping back through the folder in his hands. He pulled out a stack of paper-clipped papers, unclipped them, and spread them out on the desk. There were about 6, showing the locations and determined movements of the Fae forces in a maneuver Taekwoon had called Operation Stake-Out (Because stakes kill vampires, and Taekwoon didn’t have enough joy in his life and so resorted to putting puns in the names of serious military operations. He was the commander, he could do whatever the fuck he wanted). He felt the irritation of a good plan ruined as he looked over the maps.

 

Pulling himself upright in his chair, Taekwoon hovered his hands over the maps, fingers slipping easily into the ingrained movements of an analysis spell meant to recall the events before and after the spell took effect. Trained fairies didn’t need to speak to cast; spoken words were like training wheels meant to help the caster through the spell. Really what mattered was intent and the precise movements of the fingers. Vampires always mocked fairies for their love of their hair, but really the hands were the most valued. A fairy without movement of their hands couldn’t cast. And to one who loved magic like Taekwoon, he’d rather die.

 

Taekwoon closed his eyes as the spell washed over him. When he opened them again, he was standing in the tent of the Minnewaska State Park squad leader. There was a moment of dizziness as his inner ear adjusted to the sudden change in position. The tent looked undisturbed; it was empty and dimly lit, the maps strewn across the folding table with abandon. Slobs, Taekwoon thought. Then a slight breeze blew through the tent, the curtain over the entrance fluttering slightly, maps lightly rustling on the table.

 

The tent wasn’t empty anymore.

 

A tall, slim figure in dark clothes stood at the edge of Taekwoon’s vision, curled into the wall of the tent in a way that made him look like a shadow. It was unmistakably male, although the slinking movements were quite feminine at times. He moved in a way that belied his skill; it was obvious that he knew exactly where each of his limbs were at any point in time. He moved purposefully and efficiently, no energy wasted. The shadow silently approached the table, one hand at his waist, resting upon the hilt of a long knife. Taekwoon watched impassively. He already had a suspicion of the culprit.

 

With one last step, the spy reached the table and lowered his eyes to the maps. The second he did, a piercing shriek ripped through the silence of the night like a razor blade and the shadow’s head flew up to search for the source of the sound. His eyes narrow in concentration, limbs easily falling into a defensive stance, knife already drawn from its scabbard and gripped in a loose, one-handed hold. Taekwoon recognized that stance. The vampire did not fall. He did not collapse to the ground, writhing in pain, hands over his ears in an attempt to shut out the blaring alarm. Taekwoon watched as the spy slipped a phone from his boot, confident that no one was immediately coming, and efficiently snapped photos of the maps, returning the phone to its hiding place afterwards. Then, with a glance behind him, enhanced vampire senses hearing the sounds of approaching pixies, he turned to stare directly at Taekwoon.

 

Taekwoon jerked in surprise, taking a hesitant step back until he remembered that he wasn’t actually there. He stepped to the side and watched as the spy stabbed his knife into the fabric of the tent wall, ripping downwards to create a slit through which he could escape. Taekwoon raised a hand, halting the scene. The sudden stillness was off putting. Stepping away from the wall, he moved so that he could see the blade better. Vampires were still stuck in the past, using blades instead of the guns favored by many of the Fae.

 

The good thing about blades, though- everyone had a favorite.

 

A close inspection of this one confirmed Taekwoon’s suspicions. The blade was long and slim, with a simple hilt wrapped in dark leather. Engraved water lilies danced along the deadly steel. Taekwoon knew exactly who owned that knife. He probably liked the flowers, Taekwoon thought with a grimace. He probably loved the irony of stabbing people with such a pretty blade. Flowers drenched in blood. What a perfect description. Oh God, Taekwoon could already feel the headache that this vampire carried with them. But a job was a job. Taekwoon flicked his fingers and the scene started again.

 

Tossing a look over his shoulder, the shadow slipped out into the night just as half awake pixies stumbled into the room, staring around in confusion. Taekwoon almost felt bad for the unfortunate pixie guards. He was sure the vampire had led them on a gruelling chase, only to escape in the end. Taekwoon knew first hand how hard it was to catch that vampire. And now he also knew that the vamp was not only a fucking good spy, he was also one of the older vampires that had developed a resistance to simpler forms of magic. Goddamnit.

 

Taekwoon vanished the tent and the unlucky pixies with a snap of his fingers and waited for the momentary dizziness to fade as he opened his eyes. Jaehwan waited expectantly in front of him, eyes questioning. Taekwoon took a second to glare at his second’s large nose. It didn’t help.

 

“Well?” Jaehwan asked. “Did the spy get the maps?”

 

“We need a new plan,” Taekwoon said.

 

Because Cha Hakyeon, Captain of the Espionage Corps, had just blown his out of the fucking water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Feel free to leave comments. I will read them, I have nothing better to do :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Updated a day early because Hongbin and Wonsik deserve their time to shine :)

Hongbin had once been bitten by a vampire and thought it was the hottest thing ever. Not just any fairy could say that they had slept with and been bitten by a vampire, but Hongbin could. And that would probably be the end of his very short list of accomplishments.

 

Accomplishments people cared about, anyway. Because no one wanted to know about his PhD in the Power and Application of Old Gaelic, or his other PhD in Quantum Magical Theory, or his _other_ other PhD in Theoretical and Applied Rehabilitation Magic, which he had received at the practically unheard age of 128.

 

And where did all that get him, you ask? A government based, low wage job in a military laboratory, formulating spells meant to blast a vampire to pieces.

 

Hongbin hated his job.

 

He hated the violence of it. He hated the hierarchy of the military. He hated that his brain was being used for war, to literally kill people. But mostly, he hated himself, that he let it all happen because he was too scared to stand up and leave.

 

He thought about it all the time. Just standing up from his desk one day, dropping whatever horrible weapon of mass destruction he was working on at the time, and walking out. It would be so easy. But then again, it wouldn’t be.

 

Because Hongbin knew first hand what the repercussions would be. He’d seen them in action. He’d watched his sister, his smart, beautiful, braver-than-he-could-ever-be sister, leave their shared apartment one day. She had kissed Hongbin on the forehead. “I’ll see you soon, hummingbird,” she had said. Hummingbird, because she used to say Hongbin’s brain flitted between thoughts so fast she couldn’t keep up. She could, though. She was smarter than Hongbin could ever hope to be.

 

Hongbin missed her every day. Even now, sat in his lab, sketching out plans for a new spell, he thought of her. Then the sirens started blaring their terrible wail, echoing off the glass and steel walls, and Hongbin couldn’t think anymore.

 

It was chaos around him. His heart beat so quickly he could hear it in his head and behind his eyes. People stood so fast they knocked their chairs over, shoving papers and plans into their bags. Hongbin frantically swept his work off his desk into his bag and swung it over his shoulder, standing up and glancing around.

 

The sirens meant one thing. Vampires.

 

Hongbin always knew this was a possibility. They were at war, after all. But Hongbin was a scientist, not a soldier; he wasn’t in the field, he was in an underground laboratory in lower Manhattan and he _wasn’t supposed to get attacked. I’m filing a complaint,_ Hongbin cursed. _I am too intelligent to die because a vampire decided they wanted a snack._

 

He wanted to follow the frenzied stream of people to the exits, but a crazed mob could be just as deadly as one blood thirsty vamp, and Hongbin wasn’t prepared to die today. He still had to pay Jaehwan for losing a bet. (Hongbin had dared him to wear a truly horrible graphic t-shirt to work advertising vampiric blowjobs. He’d though Jaehwan wouldn’t do it. Hongbin severely underestimated the other fairy’s thot power.) He took a different hallway; it was longer, but there were less people, so hopefully it would attract less attention.

 

The hallway sloped steadily upwards. Hongbin could tell he was almost at the exit. Midday sunlight streamed through the windows. Vampires, contrary to common lore, didn’t burn in the sun. (Hongbin once wrote a paper on the history of that belief. Someone had decided that burning people alive was the best way to exorcise demons, and vampires were thought to be demons. Eventually, the townspeople connected a convoluted series of occurrences and came to the conclusion that vampires were demons that spontaneously caught fire in the sun. Because that makes sense. The paper got an A+, though. Hongbin’s just that good.)

 

But it was still weird that the lab was being attacked. Why, Hongbin thought, would they go through this effort for a simple raid. Unless it’s not a simple raid and someone came looking-

 

Lost in thought, sirens faded to a distant whine in the back of his head, Hongbin slammed into the man blocking the hallway. Irritated, he opened his mouth to berate the man, raising his head.

 

“Get out of my way,” Hongbin said, eyes burning with exasperation. “Don’t you hear the sirens? We need to leave.” He stepped to the side to walk around the man. Who was very tall. And pretty. But that wasn’t what Hongbin needed to be thinking about right now. He needed to leave.

 

The man stepped to the side as well, mirroring Hongbin’s movement.

 

Hongbin cocked his head, now very irritated. Why couldn’t people just _listen_ for once.

 

“Ok.” Hongbin took a deep breath. His therapist said breathing helped to calm you down. Hongbin didn’t know if he believed that. It certainly wasn’t working now.

 

“Please will you move out of the way, kind sir,” Hongbin said, acrid sarcasm oozing from his voice. He pulled back his shoulders and stood straighter. Taking a closer look at the man blocking his path- ignoring his pretty eyes and sharp jawline and long legs -Hongbin realized that something was off. He stood with a grace that only-

 

The man opened his mouth to speak, and Hongbin jerked backwards like he’d been burned as the understanding hit him.

 

Fangs. In his mouth. That was a vampire. The revelation hit him with the force of a truck, paralyzing Hongbin. And then the fear turned to irritation. And then anger. The vampire said something, but Hongbin wasn’t listening. He could only hear white noise.

 

Vampires had attacked his lab. Vampires had attacked _his lab_ , and one had the absolute audacity to stand in front of him and block his exit. This was his lab, his projects, those were his coworkers out there terrified, and Hongbin was done with being afraid. He had fucked a vampire, for god’s sake. He had three goddamn PhD’s, and this stupidly pretty vampire in front of him did not.

 

Hongbin stepped forward and pushed the vampire in the chest. The vampire took a few stumbling steps backwards, shock in his eyes. His mouth opened in indignation.

 

“No,” Hongbin said, fists practically shaking at his sides. “You do not get to talk. You get to leave.” He gave the vampire another push. “You can leave. Right. Now.” Each word was punctuated with a shove back, until Hongbin stood at the exit of the building. The sun backlit the vampire in front of him, his shadow stretching over Hongbin’s own.

 

At this point Hongbin was standing almost chest to chest with the vampire (the vampire who smelled like pine and old books and long nights in the Fae library where everything glimmered with decades of magic. It was everything Hongbin loved about immortality). He had to look up to make eye contact- they would’ve been the same height, but the vamp wore heeled boots and that little fact just pissed Hongbin off even more.

 

He moved to sidestep again, but this time the vampire grabbed his arm. Hongbin bristled, inhaling to curse this insolent vampire all the way back into his coffin. The rest of the hallway had gone silent; the sirens stopped. They must be alone in the building. Hongbin hoped everyone else had gotten out ok, but he was beginning to suspect that this vampire was the only one who had come.

 

“You’re a scientist, aren’t you?” the vampire asked, and the funny thing was, he sounded breathless. He sounded shaken.

 

If Hongbin had to put a name on it, he’d call it desperation.

 

(A vampire that pretty had no right to be desperate. He could have anything and anyone in the world. He could have Hongbin. Hongbin wouldn’t mind. That is, if they were in a different situation and the sirens hadn’t just been ringing.)

 

Hongbin nodded, confused. “I work in a fucking lab? Did you think I was a stripper?”

 

The vampire’s face turned a (very cute) shade of red.

 

“S-Stripper- what, no. I didn’t-” He took a deep breath. _Maybe he should talk to my therapist,_ Hongbin thought. _He seems stressed._

 

“My name is Kim Wonsik, and I don’t think you’re a stripper,” the vampire, Wonsik, said. Hongbin felt some spark in him ignite with the knowledge of the pretty vampire’s name. He didn’t want to care. He didn’t have the capacity to care when his heart was busy missing his sister and hating his job.

 

Hongbin had no room for pretty vampires named Kim Wonsik who didn’t think he was a stripper.

 

“Ok, Kim Wonsik.” Hongbin bit out his words until they were sharp like knives, because he was a scientist and words were his only weapons. “Get out of my way.”

 

Wonsik didn’t let go of his arm. His eyes widened- he looked like a kicked puppy. (Hongbin hated puppies. He had one once, and the world took it from him, but it proved too hard to hate the world so he settled for puppies.)

 

“Please,” Wonsik protested “I need help.” Hongbin could see his fangs when Wonsik spoke. Part of him wondered what they felt like. On his mouth. On his neck.

 

Hongbin shrugged out of his grip. Wonsik let go and didn’t try to grab him again. Hongbin appreciated the gesture, but it really meant nothing in the scheme of things. Because Wonsik was a vampire and could grab him again at the speed of light and Hongbin wouldn’t be able to escape. _Although_ , Hongbin thought, _I might not want to._

 

But Hongbin had a PhD. Hongbin was a doctor. He tried to get people to call him Dr. Lee for a while, but it never caught on. Shame, really. Regardless, as a doctor, he made an oath to help people, and he intended to keep that oath, even if the people in question were technically already dead and hadn’t done anything to deserve Hongbin’s help.

 

Wonsik still looked at him desperately. Hongbin could almost imagine him going _Help me, Lee Hongbin, you’re my only hope._ God, he’s such a nerd. But Hongbin couldn’t to refuse, because Wonsik’s eyes were big and he looked at Hongbin with such urgency and Hongbin felt valued.

 

And Hongbin really wanted to feel valued. Recognition was hard to come by, these days.

 

Hongbin sighed and met Wonsik’s eyes. “They’re going to call roll outside in like 5 minutes,” he said. “If I’m not there, a search party is going to come down here and look for me.” Hongbin hoped that last part was true. He didn’t actually know if he was important enough to warrant a search party. Wonsik nodded. _His eyes are so expressive_ , Hongbin found himself thinking.

 

Hongbin reached into his pocket for one of his business cards. He’d had them specially made because he liked the feeling of handing them to people. Maybe that was sad. Hongbin didn’t care. Handing it to Wonsik, he said, “This has my number. Text me later and I’ll set up a consultation.”

 

Wonsik nodded again, hope clear in his eyes. He held the card with both hands, like a delicate dream. _Hope is fragile_ , Hongbin supposed. _Wonsik’s hands are pretty. Long and thin and pale._

 

_Like a fairy._

 

Hongbin stepped around Wonsik, who finally let him pass, and strode down the remainder of the hallway.

 

“Thank you,” the vampire called from behind him, hand raised in an aborted wave. Hongbin, facing away, nodded his understanding.

 

Kim Wonsik, the vampire with fairy hands. This might be interesting. Life was looking up.

  


~~~

 

 

Wonsik had never slept with a fairy. He’d never slept with anyone, if he were being honest. It wasn’t something he was proud of, but then again, it wasn’t at the top of his list of things to do. All of the top spaces were occupied by his mother, at the moment. Buy her medicine, pay her therapist, make her food, ect. It just never ended. And Wonsik was so, so tired but he was also a good son and he loved his mother. Love was painful sometimes. And Wonsik was a bit of a masochist and kept coming back because some part of him just kept thinking he could help her. He wouldn’t even consider the thought of her recovery being impossible.

 

Or that she didn’t want to recover.

 

Kim Sunyoung was stubborn. She used to say it ran in her blood when she gave her acceptance speeches for track and field awards. Long distance, hurdles, pole vault, gold words that decorated the walls of their little two-bedroom apartment as Wonsik grew up. Wonsik liked to look into them, tried to see his face in the glossy reflection. Maybe he could be like that, one day.

 

(Wonsik never received an award.)

 

But then his mother fell. Just a little one, down the stairs after a night out on the town, too much alcohol and not enough sense. That was all it took. The littlest actions had consequences. Wonsik later learned that she already had a stress fracture from the extensive athletics, and the hard fall shattered her patella. She could walk, even run, but not race. And things spiraled down from there.

 

The medication she took to kill pain became a way to kill time. Enough time, in fact, that when combined with copious amounts of alcohol, she managed to miss her son’s childhood. And teenage years. And college life. And death, it seemed. Wonsik was a vampire, and she didn’t know. How could she, when she barely knew her son when he had been alive. Not that death changed him much.

 

Nothing seemed to change when you’re immortal. Wonsik always questioned the effects of immortality. _What must that do to us,_ he wondered, _to have no time constraint on our minds and bodies. What are we aiming for._

 

And the war made things worse. Wonsik needed money, and the only way to have a steady income right now meant military. So he became a soldier. Low tier, not great pay, but better than nothing. And it avoided the pretense of humanity. Nothing was harder than trying to convince other humans that yes, I’m human, I just look really young and never get older. Don’t look for my birth certificate, please.

 

But Wonsik was tired of his mother and he was tired of the war. He was tired of going on patrol every night and returning home to find his mother passed out on the couch, empty pill bottles scattered about the coffee table. _Weren’t we supposed to be better,_ he thought. _We are creatures from fairy tales, immortal and powerful. Why are we fighting this war for no reason._

 

Wonsik never had an answer.

 

And suddenly, like fate, one presented itself in the form of a journal article about Lee Hongbin.

 

Lee Hongbin, Wonsik noticed, had the sort of beauty that hit you like a truck. Wonsik had never been hit by a truck, but he imagined it would feel like seeing Lee Hongbin’s dimples for the first time. Which he saw when he looked up the scientist and saw a PhD in rehabilitation magic next to his name, along with two others, and Wonsik didn’t know a word of Old Gaelic but he wished he did if only to impress this gorgeously intelligent fairy. The photo of Hongbin was a work of art, Wonsik was convinced. But sad. Something about it struck Wonsik as sad. Like a beautiful artifact collecting dust in an abandoned museum.

 

A few more clicks took him to Dr. Lee’s wikipedia page (oh my god the man had a wiki) and Wonsik quickly located his place of work, some basement level laboratory in lower Manhattan. _A scientist with three PhDs deserved better,_ Wonsik thought, but who was he to say. Wonsik Google Mapped the directions, left a note that his mother probably wouldn’t look at, and stepped out into the late morning sunlight. It was a nice day.

 

In hindsight, walking into a Fae laboratory probably hadn’t been the best way to go about his mission.

 

The alarms went off the second Wonsik stepped inside, horrible shrieking sirens that seemed to herald the arrival of a monster. Wonsik wasn’t a monster, though, and didn’t think all this was necessary. Because this was a low level laboratory, there weren’t many guards. The only security measure seemed to be Run Towards The Exit As Fast As Possible. Wonsik walked through the white-coated sea of frenzied technicians and lab assistants towards Lee Hongbin’s office, although he doubted he would still be there.

 

 _If I were a smart, pretty fairy_ , Wonsik wondered, _where would I go?_

 

He stopped to glance over an emergency map of the building and found another exit. _With all the people rushing towards this one,_ he mused, _I would exit through the side doors._ Confidently, he set off for the far exit. _What a good plan, Wonsik._ He gave himself a mental pat on the back.

 

The linoleum hallways were stark and depressing, fluorescent lighting cold and white. When Wonsik found the side exit, the hallway was empty. He stood with his back to the door, following the dust motes floating in the midday rays of sun with his eyes. He resolved to wait for Lee Hongbin to come to him. Wonsik really hoped he would.

 

He did.

 

Hongbin crashed into Wonsik with the force of a truck, but his eye contact hit Wonsik like a thousand of them, and Wonsik didn’t know why his simile of choice was a truck because he’d never actually been hit by one but he’d love to be hit by Hongbin again.

 

If not a truck, it felt like fate.

 

Hongbin was even prettier in real life, illuminated by the sun, righteous indignation burning in his eyes. Wonsik thought his cheekbones would have cut him if he touched his face. Not that he would. He wasn’t a creep.

 

Wonsik prepared himself to explain the situation, but before he could begin Hongbin spoke.

 

His voice was musical. Wonsik didn’t register a word he said.

 

Hongbin took a step around Wonsik. _No_ , Wonsik thought, _that can’t happen. I need you._ But words wouldn’t come, not in the face of this beautiful fairy with a voice like magic itself. Wonsik moved to block Hongbin’s path.

 

Hongbin, visibly irritated but somehow all the more beautiful for it, took a deep breath, head cocked to the side. Birdlike, Wonsik decided. This man was a bird.

 

“Please will you move out of the way, kind sir,” the magical voice said, but now it was laced with cutting sarcasm and Wonsik wanted nothing more than to obey and make the magic come back but he _couldn’t._ Not when Hongbin had a PhD in rehabilitation magic.

 

Wonsik opened his mouth to ask Hongbin if he would _please, please_ help him, but suddenly Hongbin lurched back and oh. Wonsik understood now. Hongbin, magical, bird-like Hongbin, hadn’t known he was a vampire. And now he did. Wonsik spoke, words to ease Hongbin’s fears, but Hongbin didn’t hear any of it.

 

Wonsik watched as Hongbin’s fear-glazed eyes melted to savage anger. It was beautiful, in the way that a burning building holds your attention. Wonsik wanted to stay. _Burning wouldn’t be so bad,_ he thought, _not for one like Hongbin._ He wondered when the ignition had happened.

 

Hongbin stepped forward and pushed Wonsik backwards, speaking as he did. “No,” he said, and his voice was magic again but now it was magic that felled armies, “You do not get to talk.” Wonsik couldn’t imagine talking right now. “You can leave. Right. Now.” Hongbin was chest to chest with Wonsik now, breathing hard, and all Wonsik could think about was how the rays of sun were nothing compared to the light in Hongbin’s eyes.

 

(Wonsik was a little taller. This seemed important.)

 

Hongbin took another step to the side, tirade complete, but Wonsik grabbed his wrist. He felt bad about it, but he really needed Hongbin to just stop and listen. Please.

 

“You’re a scientist, aren’t you?” Wonsik asked, and he regretted instantly that his first words to this fairy were something so mundane. He needed help, though, and there wasn’t time for second guessing. He could hear the tremble in his voice.

 

Hongbin looked confused. “I work in a fucking lab? Did you think I was a stripper?”

 

And there went Wonsik’s sanity, because now he had an image of stripper Hongbin in his head, and he could swear he’d never felt something so painful. He felt his face heat up.

 

Stumbling over his words, Wonsik mumbled, “S-Stripper- what, no. I didn’t-” He inhaled, trying to calm his racing heart.

 

“My name is Kim Wonsik, and I don’t think you’re a stripper.” There, that sounded sufficiently professional. He hoped Hongbin agreed.

 

His next words almost crushed Wonsik’s tiny spark of hope.

 

“Ok, Kim Wonsik.” The words attacked Wonsik like knives, and Wonsik already knew how much words could hurt. His mother had taught him that. “Get out of my way.”

 

Wonsik could feel his hope slipping away from him. His face fell. “Please,” he pleaded. “I need help.” Because this was his last chance. After this, Wonsik would accept his cards, but not before trying his damned hardest to change them. Hongbin was looking at his fangs. Wonsik hoped he wasn’t scared.

 

Hongbin jerked out of Wonsik’s hold. Wonsik happily let go. He wanted the fairy to feel safe. Part of him hoped Hongbin might feel safe with Wonsik. Part of him was too scared to hope. Vampires didn’t have the best track record.

 

Hongbin sighed, his whole body seeming to shrink in resignation. But the set of his shoulders stayed determined. He looked up to meet Wonsik’s eyes. “They’re going to call roll outside in like five minutes,” Hongbin said. “If I’m not there, a search party is going to come down here and look for me.” Wonsik allowed himself to hope again. Was Hongbin going to help him?

 

Wonsik watched with bated breath as Hongbin handed him a card. It was a pretty card, simple and elegant. Like its owner. It read _Dr. Hongbin Lee_ on the front in silver-blue font, with a number underneath. “Text me later and I’ll set up a consultation,” Hongbin was saying.

 

A consultation. That was better than anything Wonsik could have hoped for. It meant help. It meant his mother might be saved. (And, most importantly, it meant more time with Hongbin. Wonsik was quickly realizing life was better with the tall doctor in it.)

 

Wonsik internally screamed. Success tasted like magic and felt like sparks. He hoped Hongbin could see his gratitude in his shaking hands.

 

Hongbin started walking away before Wonsik could respond. The vampire quickly turned around and called “Thank you!” to the doctor’s back, hand hesitantly raised. There was no reply, but Wonsik imagined he saw a nod.

 

Lee Hongbin, the doctor with a voice like magic. His mother could be saved. Life was looking up.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't watched Good Omens on Amazon Prime i strongly suggest you do so. Right now, if possible.


	3. Chapter 3

Hakyeon wanted to hire an interior decorator.

 

(He knew one, too. A few years back, he’d tracked down a vampire that used to be a designer and convinced her to make over his apartment. He still had her number. They went on an annual Laugh At People’s Outfits walk together. Good times.)

 

But honestly, there really was no reason the political center of US vampires needed to be this ugly. It was about a 30 minute drive out of the inner city into rural New York, and there weren’t any convenient trains, meaning Hakyeon always had to take a taxi. Which cost like, $50, and even as a military captain his job didn’t pay well enough for that to not be painful. Hakyeon may be 113 but he still lived like a college student. (He had this really good ramen recipe that involved blood sausage. Don’t judge.) With a lot of pleading, Hakyeon had gotten Sanghyuk to agree to pick him up after the meeting.

 

The meeting. Hakyeon had come out of the map mission on a high, only to have it brutally destroyed hours later when a call came through from the Parliament. They want to speak with you in person, the messenger had said. Come at your earliest convenience. Which, in Hakyeon’s experience, meant  _ right now, or yesterday if you can make it. _

 

Hakyeon really hated the Parliament.

 

The building itself was maybe 4 stories high. Hakyeon had never counted. It was built out of grey stone and concrete slabs and had a collonaded marble porch at the front, decked out with grooved pillars. A four year old with a crayon stub could have designed a better building. Hakyeon thought it looked resembled an abandoned museum.

 

He stepped out of the cab and tipped the driver, because no one deserved to have to see the abomination of vampire architecture. It was like someone was compensating for their undead body by reviving architecture from the middle ages. The long, gravel driveway had a few sleek, black cars parked alongside it. Permanent residents. Hakyeon pitied them. He also pitied his decision to wear black jeans to the dusty as hell countryside. His boots clicked on the stone steps as he approached the front door.

 

Even though the building looked old it was equipped with state of the art security systems. A war was happening after all, and security was top priority. Hakyeon fished his ID card out of his purse. (Hakyeon was confident in his masculinity and could handle calling it a purse. And he didn’t like ruining the silhouette of his legs with junk in his pockets.) He swiped the card through the little scanner beside the door and waited until the green light blinked on. There was a faint click as the heavy door unlocked.

 

Hakyeon gave the door a push and stepped into the dim antechamber. He could feel the heavy atmosphere pressing down on him. God, vampires and their mood lighting. The inside of the building was no better than the outside, and all Hakyeon wanted to do was return to his beautifully decorated, well-lit apartment in SoHo but he couldn’t. Not when the Parliament requested a meeting. You didn’t refuse the Parliament.

 

Which wasn’t really the right name for it, because  _ Parliament _  implied  _ election _ . And Hakyeon didn’t know, maybe the vamps sitting on the Parliament now had won some election thousands of years ago, but there hadn’t been another election since. The Parliament was simply a collection of six very old vampires who decided how best to run their subjects into the ground.

 

Also, Hakyeon wondered, why the fuck were they a group of six? How were they meant to vote when they had an even number? What if there was a tie? Nothing about vampire politics was effective, and yet nothing changed. Hakyeon sighed. Maybe this was why they went around dressed like they were in the 1700’s.

 

And where was the king, you ask? Well, last week he’d been in Hawaii. Something about blood oranges, Hakyeon thought. Who knew where he was now.

 

Hakyeon approached the circular information desk occupying the center of the room. It was one of very few pieces of furniture. There were some small side tables sprinkled around the walls, some featuring dusty artifacts and others just dust, as well as a sad potted fern in the corner. It looked dead. A door behind the desk advertised Board Room 103 on a gold plaque. Unintelligible conversation floated through it.

 

A middle aged man with pale blond hair sat behind the desk, typing on his computer. His name tag sticker read _  Hi! My name is  _ _ Derek _ , the tone at odds with the atmosphere. The click of his keyboard was the only sound in the room. Hakyeon thought he would rather die. He stood in front of the desk and waited for the man to notice him. Derek didn’t look up. 

 

Hakyeon coughed lightly into his hand, tapping the other on the polished wood of the desk. Derek paused to make a note on a pad of paper to his left. Hakyeon sighed.  _ Why did it always have to be so hard. _

 

Hakyeon rested his elbows on the desk and put his chin in his hands, batting his eyelashes at the secretary. “Excuse me,” he said, saccharine. “My name is Captain Cha of Espionage Corps. I have a meeting with the Parliament.”

 

Derek finally looked up, dull blue eyes slightly glazed over.  _ Why _ , Hakyeon wondered,  _ would you become immortal only to sentence yourself to a purgatory of dust and deskwork. _  Without saying a word, the secretary reached under his desk. A buzzer sounded and the door behind the information desk unlocked. Hakyeon smiled, flashing his fangs.

 

“Thank you so much.”

 

Hakyeon stepped around the desk and its half-dead occupant and walked through the door. This was only the second time he’d been here, the first being his promotion. That had been a happier occasion. There had been champagne.

 

Hakyeon could go for some champagne right now. Maybe something stronger.

 

The new room was much better taken care of, or at least the decorator had been paid more. Brighter lights illuminated eddies of dust and the curtains were pulled back, allowing dappled sunlight to filter into the room. A quiet conversation came to an end as he entered and the room’s occupants looked up.

 

Hakyeon focused on the two men seated at the long meeting table, papers spread in front of them.  _ Only two out of the six, _  Hakyeon thought.  _ I’m worth more than that _ .

 

It was probably a good thing, though. You didn’t want to meet all six of the parliamentarians. The last time all six were in the same room, a US president died.

 

(Hakyeon didn’t know if the meeting actually had anything to do with the Kennedy assassination, but it certainly seemed like too big of a coincidence to ignore.)

 

He gave a little bow, then straightened up to stand at attention. The man on the left nodded slightly, and Hakyeon relaxed.

 

“Captain,” the parliamentarian said. No one knew their names. The Parliament was so very old that the names of the vampires on it had passed into memory. Hakyeon wasn’t even sure if they themselves remembered. No one was quite sure how old they were, because it was impossible to tell from history books whether the Parliament always referred to the same collection of vampires, but their age certainly lent them credibility. Hakyeon suspected they had abilities far greater than they let on, to hold power for so long.

 

The one on Hakyeon’s left was tall and skinny, with sunken cheekbones and a shock of white hair clinging to his head by one or two strands. His eyes were cold.  _ Shark eyes _ , Hakyeon thought. The other man was a little shorter, with dark hair and blue eyes like ice. He was wearing a long black coat with the collar flipped up, like he was cosplaying a 19th century vampire. Hakyeon disapproved.

 

The one that looked like Doc Brown (Hakyeon loved Back To The Future. Sanghyuk didn’t. No accounting for taste.) flipped through the folder lying in front of him. Birds were singing outside the windows. Hakyeon would kindly like them to shut up, they were ruining the carefully cultivated mood of  _ Vampire _ .

 

Doc Brown looked up. “You were assigned to collect information on the movements of the Fae aerial legions,” he said. His voice creaked like cracked stone. Hakyeon realized he was in the presence of ancient history. He was in the same room as those who had witnessed the rise and fall of empires.

 

He nodded. “Yes, sir.” Was sir the proper way to address thousand year old vampire dictators? Hakyeon hoped so.

 

Doc Brown raised a white eyebrow. “You failed,” he said. Hakyeon inhaled quickly.

 

“I would like to contest that,” he said. “I technically didn’t-”

 

“Technicalities have no place in war, Captain,” Dracula said. Hakyeon wanted to tell him that war was built on technicalities. _  Technically, we have a parliamentary system, but it’s really just a dictatorship. _  “You were seen, therefore you failed.”

 

Hakyeon narrowed his eyes. “I left the maps at the camp,” he said. “And I got the pictures. And, please remember, I gathered intelligence  _ successfully  _ from four other camps earlier this month.”

 

Doc Brown reached for a sheet of paper, shaking his head aggressively. Hakyeon worried for the few strands of hair the man had left. “We received a message from an inside source. They know you have the photos and intend to change plans.” He slid the paper across the table for Hakyeon to look at. “All intelligence you gathered is useless.”

 

Glancing over the paper, which was actually a print out of an email, Hakyeon saw that it was sent from the account hrh.hsh@gmail.com.  _ Han fucking Sanghyuk _ , Hakyeon cursed,  _ I am going to have words with you. _

 

He opened his mouth to speak but Dracula cut him off with a raised hand. “Be aware,” he said quietly, “that we do not tolerate mistakes.” Hakyeon didn’t need a reminder. He still remembered the burned and smoking body of his former captain. He hadn’t been able to sleep for a week. The Parliament took savage pleasure in ironies.

 

Sometimes he hated his job. “How can I compensate?” he asked through gritted teeth, inwardly seething. Kissing up to these assholes wasn’t in his job description.

 

Dracula leaned forward in his seat. From the new angle Hakyeon could see his fangs when he smiled. One was chipped. It was not a pleasant smile.

 

Bony fingers folded together on top of the varnished table, Dracula said, “The Commander will be formulating a new plan. You will find out what it is.” The Parliament never spoke in  _ if’s  _ or  _ would you please’s _ .

 

Hakyeon remembered being offered the promotion a week after his captain’s death.  _ We are promoting you, Lieutenant Cha _ , the parliamentarian had said.  _ Do not disappoint us. _

 

Both vampires waited for Hakyeon’s response. Which really meant nothing, Hakyeon knew, but he appreciated the facsimile of choice. He nodded.

 

The Commander. Jung Taekwoon, head of Fae aerial strategy. Magic like the ocean. And Hakyeon had to figure out what he was planning to do.

 

“I will not fail,” Hakyeon said, bowing his head.  _ Or if I do, Sanghyuk won’t fucking send you an email about it. _

 

Doc Brown smiled thinly, shark eyes flat and cold. “No,” he said. “You won’t.”

 

Hakyeon turned on his heel and left. He’d had enough of dusty vampires and their dusty artifacts for the next millennia. He needed a drink.

 

But first, he thought, emerging from the gloom of the Parliament building and seeing the blue Honda idling in the driveway, Han Sanghyuk needed a slap in the face.

  
  


~~~

 

 

Taekwoon felt like his arm was about to fall off.

 

The tall fairy found himself being dragged out of his very comfortable, peaceful office into the mid-afternoon sunlight of a bustling New York City by one Lee Jaehwan. It wasn’t quite fair; Jaehwan actually went to the gym once in a while. Taekwoon couldn’t remember the last time he did anything more strenuous than carry a large stack of papers down the hall.

He barely had time to toss up a glamour before they were on the sidewalk, knocking into people left and right. Humans weren’t equipped for magic. Their bodies couldn’t handle the energy that coursed through Fae blood, so if a human touched a fairy the received an unpleasant shock. The glamour also helped soften the pointed Fae ears and lessen the other-worldly beauty all fairies possessed.

 

Taekwoon was tired. He wanted a nap. And he did not want to go out for food with his idiotic friends. (That’s not true. Only Jaehwan was an idiot. Hongbin was scary smart. Taekwoon liked to tell him that as much as possible. The poor, stressed-out scientist needed an ego boost.)

 

But Jaehwan had insisted, and technically Taekwoon had promised. Taekwoon tried to argue that the promise had been made under duress, but Jaehwan was a menace and never listened. At least he’d promised drinks afterwards.

 

So there Taekwoon was, being tugged down the street by his friend towards a tiny pizza joint in Little Italy. It had been there since before Taekwoon could remember, and he could remember a lot. Perks of being immortal.

 

Jaehwan finally released his arm with a little laugh when they stepped inside the small restaurant. Taekwoon shook his head and cursed his second to hell. But not aloud. Because Jaehwan was sensitive and Taekwoon really needed him to stay as his second.

 

(Jaehwan knew this, and acted out as much as he could. It was a game he played: How Much Can Jung Taekwoon Take. It livened up the workplace.)

 

“Hongbin!” Jaehwan called excitedly, deftly stepping around close packed chairs and tables. He actually shouted. Across the entire restaurant. Taekwoon was already so done. He sighed and followed Jaehwan towards the table near the back of the restaurant. Its single occupant was engrossed in his phone screen. At Jaehwan’s shout, he looked up.

 

Taekwoon knew a lot about Hongbin. He knew the fairy was a genius, but everyone knew that. He knew the scientist hated his job, but anyone could tell that from the perpetually irritated expression the man wore.

 

He knew Hongbin refused to take medication because of the cognitive issues it might cause. (Taekwoon worried more about the cognitive issues Hongbin might already have.)

 

Taekwoon knew about his sister.

 

To be honest, Taekwoon didn’t even know if Hongbin remembered telling him about her. They had both been drunk and depressed, and that was never a good combination. Hongbin had been ranting about immortality and how it corrupted everything it touched. Taekwoon hadn’t really understood it. Hongbin could keep his philosophy. Taekwoon had a war to win, and immortality certainly helped him do it.

 

But the Hongbin seated in front of him now looked much better than drunk Hongbin. Actually, he looked better than normal Hongbin. How peculiar. The scientist smiled, cocking his head in that birdlike way he had.

 

“Hey Taek,” he said. “Have you won the war yet?”

 

“Hey Bean,” Taekwoon responded. “Have you cured cancer yet?”

 

Jaehwan squealed. “That thing you guys do is so cute,” he said, hands clasped under his chin. “Do it again.”

 

Hongbin scoffed. Taekwoon had first met Hongbin years ago, after the scientist had talked his way through three security checkpoints and seven guards  _ and _  Jaehwan to personally file a complaint about the treatment of captured vampires. The scientist had stormed into Taekwoon’s office with the words  _ Well, have you won the war yet. _  Now it was their traditional greeting.

 

(Taekwoon had to keep changing his half of it because Hongbin kept actually accomplishing the goals he set for himself. He hadn’t cured cancer yet, but he was very close. Taekwoon estimated he could use the line for maybe one or two more meetings. Shame.)

 

The waiter taking drink orders interrupted Taekwoon’s reverie. Taekwoon and Jaehwan ordered water and Hongbin tea, because he was classy like that. At a previous gathering much like this one, Hongbin had told them that carbonation affected magic. Something about the bubbles and increased carbon and Taekwoon didn’t really remember. Oh well. No sodas for fairies.

 

Jaehwan was chattering away in the background, giving Hongbin a rundown of the recent events. As part of the science division, he didn’t have access to the same information Taekwoon and Jaehwan did. The military hierarchy did its best to ensure everyone was as confused as possible while still being able to complete their jobs.

 

“...so then,” Jaehwan was saying, “Taekwoon’s sexy, sexy vampire boyfriend came in and stole the plans for the maneuver we were going to do-”

 

Taekwoon jerked across the table and slapped Jaehwan’s neck. “Shut up,” he hissed. He turned to meet Hongbin’s smiling eyes. “He’s not my boyfriend,” he protested.

 

“Not yet,” Jaehwan crowed, “But Taek can identify him by his  _ blade,  _ if you know what I mean.” The bastard even winked. Taekwoon had never hated Jaehwan more than in this moment. He could feel the blush rising in his cheeks. His head flopped onto the table, hair covering his face. He wished the world would swallow him whole.

 

“I see,” Hongbin said. Taekwoon could hear the laughter in his voice. “Did you catch this sexy not-boyfriend of yours?”

 

That traitor.

 

“No,” Taekwoon said into the table. “I didn’t.”

 

Jaehwan raised a finger excitedly. “But we have a plan to!” He practically bounced out of his chain in his enthusiasm.

 

Taekwoon groaned. “I don’t know if it’ll work,” he said, lifting himself with great effort off the table.

 

In his distraction, Jaehwan had ordered the pizza. Damn. Jaehwan was a heathen and liked pineapple. Forever was apparently not enough time to convince his friend that pineapple did not belong on a pizza. Taekwoon would keep trying.

 

Hongbin raised an eyebrow. He was good at that, looking superior. One of his many skills. “What’s the plan?”

 

Taekwoon opened his mouth to explain but Jaehwan beat him to it. “Oh Hongbin, you’re going to love it. It’s all sneaky and shit.”

 

“Will you just explain the plan,” Hongbin snapped. Taekwoon smiled to himself. He wished Hongbin worked in administration. He balanced Jaehwan well.

 

Jaehwan launched into his explanation, talking animatedly. “So Taekwoon is going to pretend like he’s really stressed and has something big planned, right, which shouldn’t be too hard for him because he walks around like there’s a stick up his ass anyway-”

 

“Just explain the fucking plan, Jaehwan, or I swear to god I will fire you right now.”

 

Jaehwan dodged Taekwoon’s slap with a quick movement and kept talking.

 

“Right, so we’re going to drop hints that something big is happening. Hopefully the vamps are smart enough to pick up on the atmosphere, and then we drop the big bomb.” Jaehwan paused for effect.

 

Hongbin sighed. “What’s the big bomb, Jaehwan.” Taekwoon understood his pain.

 

Jaehwan tapped his fingertips together like a Disney villain and gave a little evil laugh. Hongbin snorted into his tea. “The big bomb, Hongbin, is  _ you. _ ” He pointed finger guns at Hongbin.

 

Hongbin furrowed his brow. “Me.”

 

“Let me actually explain,” Taekwoon said. “We need information that the vampires will do anything to get. They don’t care about resources or research, they care about weapons.”

 

He could see the understanding hit Hongbin.

 

“Hongbin, you’re the leading scientist in anti-vamp magic right now. I know you hate it, but it’s true. The information we leak will concern a new project you’re working on, and will hopefully attract the attention of the Parliament.”

 

Taekwoon felt bad for springing the plan like this on his friend. Hongbin still looked like he was digesting the information.

 

“Are you using me as bait?” he asked, incredulous.

 

“No!” Jaehwan said. “Of course not.”

 

And Taekwoon really felt bad now, because when he’d first walked in Hongbin had looked good, better than he’d been in a while. He’d had a spark in his eyes like he used to have before his sister left. Now Hongbin looked betrayed. And Taekwoon hated that it was necessary.

 

“Hongbin,” Taekwoon began, “You will never be in danger.” Hongbin looked sceptical.

 

(Hongbin looked sceptical a lot. He didn’t trust the world. Taekwoon wished he would.)

 

“The vampires will find out through a series of calculated leaks that the plans for a new magically enhanced weapon are being kept in a remote base off the coast of New Jersey.”

 

Hongbin nodded slowly.

 

“We hope that a specific vampire-”

 

“Cha Hakyeon,” Jaehwan cut in.

 

“-a specific _ , unnamed _  vampire will be sent to investigate,” Taekwoon continued with gritted teeth. Jaehwan smirked. “If this  _ unnamed _  vampire does come, we will have the chance to capture him.”

 

Hongbin seemed more convinced.

 

Jaehwan perked up, noticing Hongbin coming back on board with the plan. “We need to attach your name to the plans to make it more believable, you see,” he said. “Your name means a lot in the science world.”

 

A ghost of a smile passed over Hongbin’s face. “Yeah,” he said. “I guess it does.”

 

There was a beat of silence, interrupted by the waiter delivering the abomination pizza.    
  


“Wait,” Hongbin said. “Why do we need Cha Hakyeon?”

 

Taekwoon smiled, sparks of excitement dancing in his eyes and across his fingers.

 

“Because Cha Hakyeon hates the Parliament,” he said. “And I want him to help me kill them.”

 

~~~

 

 

Before leaving the restaurant, Taekwoon pulled Hongbin to the side, out of Jaehwan’s range. Hongbin looked at Taekwoon questioningly.

 

“I don’t want Jaehwan hearing this,” he explained. “He has a habit of spilling secrets whether or not they’re meant to be spilled.”

 

Hongbin nodded his agreement. Jaehwan did have that tendency, especially around his vampire boyfriend Hyuk something-or-another.

 

Taekwoon handed him a sealed envelope. “There are instructions in here. Let me know whether you can make it or not.”

  
  
Hongbin accepted the envelope. “Is this a military thing? Because I don’t like military things, Taek.”

 

Taekwoon smiled. It was the smile he got when he was planning something, and no one had all the pieces expect Taekwoon.  “Oh, I think you’ll like it.”

  
  


~~~

 

 

Jaehwan had promised drinks after dinner. And even with that promise, Taek still insisted on dropping by his office to finish one last piece of work before walking over. Whatever. Jaehwan would hit the bar without Taekwoon’s flat ass following him.

 

The bar was called Two Ninths. (Hongbin said it was a nod to Dante’s Inferno, in which the second layer of the nine hells was lust. Jaehwan thought that was very clever and mentally congratulated whoever had come up with the name every time he entered.)

 

It was a supernatural-friendly bar, too, so yay, Jaehwan could drop his glamour and look all hot and sparkly when he danced. And he loved to dance. He danced with anyone he could find. The war didn’t matter once you entered Two Ninths. (There were some very large bouncers making sure of that.) Faires, vampires, nymphs, nephilim, all coexisted beneath the flickering lights and glitter of the club.

 

Jaehwan opened the door and was instantly hit by the thumping bass. He could feel it in his wings, which weren’t even out at the moment. (Fairy wings were retractable. They kind of shrunk back into your shoulder blades, and to be honest Jaehwan didn’t really know where they went. Hongbin would. He suspected there was magic involved.)

 

Anyway, Jaehwan was here on business, tonight. (Pleasurable business, but business nonetheless.) It was time to kick the plan into action and leak some tasty secrets. And Jaehwan had a very particular someone in mind. Someone who had a direct line to the target.

 

And that someone happened to be sitting at the bar with a drink in hand. Jaehwan smirked. Go time.

 

Approaching the bar in the coolest way possible, because that’s just how Jaehwan rolled, he slipped around the man, squeezing himself between his seat and the bar, and picked up his drink.

 

“Han Sanghyuk,” he said, taking a sip. Jaehwan grimaced. Sprite. Sanghyuk was so weird. Like a child in the body of a hot vampire. “What brings you here?”

 

Sanghyuk glared back. “You have my drink,” he said.

 

Jaehwan nodded, smiling. “That’s some next level observation skills there.”

 

Snatching the glass back, Sanghyuk gestured to the empty stool next to him. “This seat’s taken.”

 

Jaehwan laughed. “Fine, my fangy friend,” he said. (Sanghyuk hated the nickname. So much. Jaehwan knew this.) Taking Sanghyuk’s hand, he dragged him off the stool. The vampire barely managed to put his drink on the bar before Jaehwan was pulling him towards the dance floor.

 

“Let’s dance.”

 

The lights were warm on his face and Sanghyuk’s hands were still cold from his drink when Jaehwan placed them on his hips. He wrapped his arms around Sanghyuk’s neck, resting his forehead against the vampire’s shoulder. Sanghyuk’s fangs flashed in his smile, eyes dark and pupils blown wide. Their breaths intermingled. Jaehwan lived for moments like these, when everything else dropped away and he could just watch the colored lights dance across Sanghyuk’s face.

 

Immortality was a blessing, in Jaehwan’s opinion. Taekwoon and Hakyeon could waste theirs being angsty and responsible but Jaehwan fully intended to take advantage of the time he had. The war didn’t matter; it was a distraction bored immortals used to interest themselves because they no longer understood the simple pleasures life had to offer. Jaehwan did. He was 114 years old and he had made a promise to himself never to forget the magic of living.

 

Sanghyuk understood that. Jaehwan couldn’t count the times the two had lay in bed, quietly discussing the futility of a war between immortal beings. They could be killed, of course; anything could be, but the simple fact was  _ no one cared anymore.  _ Actual fights were half-hearted and far between. Taekwoon and Hakyeon danced around each other with their complex military maneuvers meant not to kill but to tease, and both refused to recognize it. The war continued because it always had and always would, beat on by the ancient Parliament and stagnated Fae court, but the emotions that had originally sparked the fighting had long since disappeared.

 

Jaehwan can barely remember the history lessons he’d received as a kid regarding the start of the war. Some poorly planned assassinations and a few complicated misunderstandings had created the current tangled mess of political relations.

 

( _ I joined the army when I was first turned,  _ Sanghyuk had told him one night, back when their relationship had just begun and neither acknowledged the other’s job. He stroked his fingers through Jaehwan’s hair.  _ I didn’t want to go back to school and the army didn’t care about my degree of education. What would you have done,  _ Jaehwan had asked _ , if you hadn’t been turned?  _ Sanghyuk hadn’t had an answer. Jaehwan supposed it didn’t really matter anymore.)

 

In this moment, nothing mattered but the vampire pressed against him and his heart beating to the rhythm of the music. He raised his mouth to the vampire’s neck. Sanghyuk tilted his head back to allow better access, mouth opening slightly.

 

(Jaehwan had a thing for fangs. Hongbin did, too. Both suspected Taekwoon was in denial. Jaehwan had once renamed their group chat  _ Fangbanger Nation _ . He still remembered the look on Taekwoon’s face right before the fairy had thrown his phone across the room. Priceless.)

 

Jaehwan never regretted lying to Sanghyuk about his job. Sanghyuk was, of course, lying right back with a fanged smile. Their relationship was built on lies. Jaehwan suspected that Sanghyuk knew the truth about his position as second to Jung Taekwoon and just never mentioned it. So really, they were two idiots who knew each other’s identities and let the other continue the pretense, all why sleeping together and spying on each other. They just never acknowledged this fact.

 

_ What complicated lives we lead _ .

 

(Neither cared. About the lies or about the war or about anything, really. It was all a game, and both played their parts but at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. Immortality did that to you.)

 

Jaehwan kissed up Sanghyuk’s neck, the vampire’s hands tightening on his waist.

 

“Hey,” Sanghyuk whispered, his voice shaky. He tilted his neck farther back and pressed up against Jaehwan, “Do you want to come back to my place?”

 

Jaehwan smiled, nipping at his ear.

 

“I would love too.”  _ I have some juicy secrets for you to tell Hakyeon. _

 

As the two moved towards the exit, Jaehwan saw Taekwoon enter. He gave a little wave and a thumbs up. Go get some, boss.

 

~~~

 

 

Two Ninths was the best bar in New York, in Hakyeon’s educated opinion. Good environment, good drinks, and good music made it one of his favorite places to spend his free time. He’d just watched Jaehwan pull Sanghyuk out of his chair.

 

Hakyeon knew about their thing. He also knew that they were in love, just both were too wrapped up in the illusion of spying that they completely missed it. Hakyeon might just have to tell Sanghyuk one day.  _ Immortals _ , he sighed. Emotionally incompetent.

 

He hoped those two children figured out their feelings for each other eventually. Or he’d pester Sanghyuk about it for the rest of his immortal existence. Hakyeon was totally capable. Do not underestimate the power of Cha Hakyeon.

 

When he next looked back at the dance floor, Jaehwan and Sanghyuk were gone, stumbling towards the exit in a drunken haze of horny-ness.

 

Hakyeon smiled. Ah, to be young and in love.

 

And then Hakyeon’s head snapped up. Something was different. There was some… electricity in the air that hadn’t been there before. He whipped around, gaze searching for the cause of the change in atmosphere.

 

Suddenly, Hakyeon could feel the wind in his hair and waves crashing against his feet and taste salt on his lips. He felt magic in his blood.

 

Jung Taekwoon was here.

 

If his heart beat, it would be racing a thousand miles a minute right now. He couldn’t handle it. The taste of magic was addicting, and he needed to leave right now or he wouldn’t be able to leave at all.

 

Taekwoon hadn’t seen him yet, and he wasn’t sure the fairy would even be able to recognize him in civilian clothes but if the fairy stepped any closer Hakyeon thought he might combust from the sparks flying through the air.

 

He jerked to his feet, almost knocking over both his drink and chair, and made a break for the door, bumping into dancers left and right, muttering apologies under his breath.

 

Taekwoon had sat down at the bar, back turned. Hakyeon stared at his back, trying to imagine what the fairy’s wings looked like. Most were a translucent, shimmery blue, but wings came in all shades. He thought Taekwoon’s might be beautiful.

 

Taekwoon froze in the process of reaching for his drink. He hesitated for a second, and then turned around, eyes searching the room.

 

Hakyeon flinched into the shadows and slipped out the door. Time to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doc Brown is the scientist from Back to the Future if you didn't catch that. The chapter was kinda long but not long enough to split, so enjoy the awkwardly long chapter :)) Also if you catch any inconsistencies don't hesitate to call me out lol
> 
> Thanks!


	4. Chapter 4

Hongbin checked the address provided in Wonsik’s text one last time. He still hadn’t put the vampire’s number into his contacts. Doing so made everything feel so much more… permanent, and Hongbin wasn’t ready to cement this new acquaintance into his life just yet.

 

(Taekwoon was in his contacts. Hongbin had sent him a quick text that morning to let him know that he would complete the project Taek had given him the other night. It would be hard, but it was worth it, and Hongbin was always up for a challenge. Mostly to prove to everyone else that he was smarter than they were.)

 

This was the right place. He stood on the sidewalk in front of a nondescript grey apartment building, graffiti decorating one of the sides. It didn’t seem to fit the image of the vampire he had in his head. Wonsik deserved something… warmer. Softer. The sharp edges of this neighborhood would cut his hands to shreds.

 

Hongbin steadied himself with a breath. Time to be professional. He slipped out of the busy sidewalk into the little alcove where the door lay. A ragged slip of paper next to the buzzer read _Wonsik Kim - 5A_ in neat print.

 

Hongbin pressed the buzzer, then pressed again, harder, when it seemed to catch slightly. The speaker crackled a little.

 

“Hello?” A distorted voice made its way out of the old speaker. “This is Wonsik Kim.”

 

Hongbin calmed the last of his nerves and replied “Hi, this is Hongbin, I’m here for your consultation-”

 

He hadn’t even finished speaking before the door buzzed open.

 

“Hongbin!” Wonsik’s fuzzy voice said. “Come in.”

 

Hongbin walked into the apartment building, shutting the door gently behind him. It looked like it would fall of its hinges with the slightest gust of wind. A sign over the set of stairs to his left provided him directions to the fifth floor, flat A. The stairs were cramped and dark. Hongbin swore he saw a spider.

 

(Hongbin hated spiders. Something about their eight eyes allowed then to glimpse magical residue so he’d never been able to create a magic based repellent. It was a work in progress. Jaehwan teased him about it constantly, like that little bitch wasn’t terrified out of his mind by moths.)

 

The door to Wonsik’s flat was unadorned. Hongbin knocked. His hand was still raised when the door opened, a flustered Wonsik obstructing Hongbin’s view of the apartment. Wonsik smiled apologetically and slipped through the door into the hallway, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

 

Wonsik hesitated. “I was going to explain the situation to you first,” he said haltingly. “So you have an idea of what to expect before you meet her.”

 

“Sure,” Hongbin said. “Whatever makes you comfortable.” It was important for the client to be comfortable.

 

Wonsik fidgeted with one of the many rings adorning his fingers, twisting it around and around. “My mother,” he began, “is not a pleasant person.”

 

Hongbin understood.

 

“She fell when she was younger and never healed properly, and it ruined her career for good.”

 

Hongbin knew the feeling. When you had everything, and then suddenly, you didn’t. And all you had left was a gravestone and a crack in your heart that never seemed to heal, no matter what you patched it with. PhD’s just couldn’t cut it anymore.

 

Wonsik shifted his weight nervously. Hongbin didn’t know what to say to help him relax. He wasn’t good with that kind of stuff. (Hongbin wasn’t good with feelings in general. Being around Wonsik mixed up his brain until he couldn’t think straight.)

 

“So, um, she started medicating with painkillers, and then she never stopped,” Wonsik said, eyes on his feet. “And now she can’t, or won’t, I don’t know, and she’s depressed and never leaves the apartment and I just want her to feel better.” The last few sentences poured out in a rush, and Wonsik seemed relieved when he finished, a weight lifted off his shoulders.

 

Hongbin frowned. “Can’t stop, or won’t?” he asked. “There’s a difference.”

 

Wonsik groaned, leaning his head back against the door frame with a thunk. (The elegant line of his neck didn’t distract Hongbin at all. Nope. Not Professional Consultation Hongbin.)

 

“She won’t for me,” Wonsik said at last, “but maybe if she had confidence in a complete rehabilitation-”

 

Hongbin lifted a hand. “I’ll stop you there,” he interrupted. “I assume you approached me because of my medical research, yes?” Wonsik nodded. “Then I assume you’ve read the article on my- and let me stress- _experimental_ , addiction treatment.”

 

Wonsik nodded again.

 

“This is magic.” Hongbin said. “Magic is picky, and the spell I have doesn’t work unless the patient wants to get better.” And no doctor could help a patient who wouldn’t try to heal themselves.

 

“Ok,” Wonsik said. “How about we talk with her.”

 

Hongbin nodded. Wonsik turned and opened the apartment door, exposing the interior, and gestured for Hongbin to enter.

 

The inside of the apartment was warmly lit. An old, worn couch positioned by a wooden coffee table took up much of the space. Hongbin could see a glimpse of the kitchen around a corner, as well as a closed door that he assumed led to a bedroom. The few windows were opened and overlooked the city scape. There was a woman on the couch.

 

She was petite, shorter than both him and Wonsik. Dark hair fell to her shoulders in long tangles. When she put her beer bottle down on the table, Hongbin saw Wonsik’s slim fingers reflected in her hands. The fairy hands. They didn’t look right on her.

 

He bowed slightly and extended his hand.

 

“Hello, Ms. Kim,” he said. “My name is Dr. Hongbin Lee. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

 

Ms. Kim shook his hand. Her grip was weak and slightly damp from the condensation decorating the beer bottle. Her eyes met his slowly, and when they did he saw they were misted over. Hongbin wasn’t quite sure she was perfectly sober in that moment. Ms. Kim reached around him to the coffee table and picked up an unopened beer. She offered it to Hongbin silently.

 

Hongbin turned to Wonsik questioningly.

 

Wonsik rolled his eyes and shrugged. Just go with it, his eyes said tiredly.

 

Hongbin accepted the drink. “Thank you.”

 

She nodded. “Are you the wizard, pretty fairy?” she asked in a flat voice. Surprised, Hongbin realized Wonsik must have told her about the existence of supernatural creatures. Hongbin felt stupid for not asking before how much she knew about magic. He supposed that with a vampire living in the same apartment, it would be hard to keep the bloody diet a secret.

 

Hongbin sat down on the edge of the table facing her, setting his drink behind him. “I suppose that’s a word for it,” he said. “I prefer scientist, or you’re welcome to call me doctor if you like.”

 

“Alright, doctor,” Ms. Kim said. “Are you here to cure me?” Her voice was cold. Hongbin gave a shaky smile.

 

Wonsik started forward. “Mom, Hongbin invented the treatment I was telling you about. It can really help with your addiction.”

 

Ms. Kim slumped back on the couch, head tilted back. She looked at Hongbin out of the side of her eye. “You don’t know how much Wonsik’s been talking to me about this magical _panacea_ of yours.” She spit out the word like poison.

 

Hongbin knew where this was going.

 

“Ms. Kim,” he tried. “I think this medication could be very beneficial to your overall mental and physical health-”

 

“Save me the sales pitch, pretty fairy,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I’ve already gotten it from my son.”

 

Hongbin stayed silent, hands in his lap. He could feel the irritation rippling off the vampire behind him. He hadn’t seen an angry Wonsik yet. Desperate, hopeful, nervous, yes. The vampire was normally so mellow, it was strange to feel the crackles of anger sparking off him.

 

Ms. Kim set her drink on the armrest of the couch. Hongbin worried for its safety. “I will take your treatment,” she said. Hongbin’s eyes widened. He hadn’t been expecting her to say yes.

 

“But if it doesn’t work,” she continued, “I want to be left alone.”

 

“No.” Wonsik’s voice practically shook with anger, cutting through the tense atmosphere. “I will not leave you to drink yourself to death because you don’t want me to try anymore. Absolutely not.”

 

“Wonsik!” his mother said. “This is my decision.”

 

Hongbin wanted to shrink out of sight. He could tell this argument was not a new one. Why did he always get sucked into feelings. He much preferred to have consultations over the phone, where there was no possibility of becoming trapped in a room with a dysfunctional family.

 

Hongbin tentatively place a gently hand on Wonsik’s shoulder. “I think it’s a good deal.”

 

Wonsik met Hongbin’s eyes, betrayed. “What?”

 

The fairy turned back to Wonsik’s mom. “As long as you actually try to get better.”

 

She nodded. Hongbin had his doubts. He hated wasting magic and energy on this woman, but if it would get Wonsik to let her go…

 

Wonsik shook his head, voice ragged. “No. No, I do not agree.”

 

“So now you don’t want me to take the medicine?” his mother asked, mockingly, eyes narrowed to vicious slits. In that moment, Hongbin decided he hated her.

 

Wonsik looked between Hongbin and his mother. Grabbing Hongbin’s arm, he dragged him to the door and back out into the hallway. “I need to speak with you. Privately.”

 

Hands on Hongbin’s shoulders, he spun the fairy around until Hongbin’s back was to the apartment door. He slid down the opposite wall into a crouch, head against his knees. Hongbin inspected a discolored portion of carpet near his feet.  
  
“Hongbin,” Wonsik said, voice muffled. And oh, the desperation was back, and Hongbin hated how his name sounded cracking from hopelessness. He wanted to comfort the vampire but he had spent too many hours alone in laboratories and didn’t quite know how.

 

“Hongbin, you don’t know her. She’s lying to you, she won’t try to recover, and then when she doesn’t, she’ll insist I give up on her and I just can’t do that-”

 

Wonsik’s voice broke and something in Hongbin’s heart cracked along with it, and he crouched down by the distraught vampire and lifted up his head with gentle fingers.

 

“Her deal works for both you and her,” Hongbin said, and he was really trying to be reassuring but it wasn’t quite right. “Because if she gets better, then you have a healthy mom, and if she refuses to, you can leave without any guilt.” And Hongbin wanted Wonsik to leave. He wanted the vampire to escape, breathe, live, outside of that stuffy apartment with its worn couch and scattered beer bottles.

 

Wonsik shook his head. “I can’t leave her, Hongbin. She’s all I have.” His eyes begged to be understood.

 

“She doesn’t appreciate everything you do for her,” Hongbin retorted, and maybe that was harsh but it was obvious and Wonsik deserved better.

 

“You can’t live your whole life for your mother.” _Because she uses you_ , Hongbin wanted to say. _But if I were in your position I would also be clinging onto this last thread, because the alternative is so much worse. I know that now._

 

“I have to,” Wonsik said, stated like it was the only truth in this world. “I have no one else to live for.”

 

Hongbin froze. And the last piece of his cracked heart snapped into place and he wanted nothing more than to be the reason for which this beautiful, desperate vampire wanted to live. His opened his mouth but his throat was too full of emotion of make words and suddenly he understood why people described love as fireworks because he could feel the rockets going off in his chest and in front of his eyes.

 

And oh God, was this love? Hongbin didn’t understand how all of this could have happened so fast. If he touched a human at this moment, the unfortunate person would have caught fire from the strength of the energy coursing through his blood. Hongbin knew the chemical formula for love, he’d studied it in school and remembered the diagrams, but how could those pictures ever translate to the depth of emotion he felt right now? Some part of him remembered the feeling of it, remembered the warmth of his sister’s eyes, but that long ago memory was a ghost compared to the magic running through him now. For the first time in a while, Hongbin felt alive.

 

But Hongbin was still crouched in front of Wonsik, the vampire’s face resting in his hands, eyes rimmed red, and he wanted to kiss him. He wanted to feel the velvet of the vampire’s fangs on his lips and his tongue and his neck but now was not the time. Not when Wonsik was close to tears and his mother needed to be helped.

 

(Not when Hongbin was an emotional mess.)

 

“You must have someone to live for,” Hongbin said. _You have me._

 

Wonsik looked searchingly at Hongbin, and the two were so close their foreheads were almost touching. A ghost of a smile passed over his face.

 

“Maybe I do,” he said.

 

They wrapped up the meeting in the hallway, both aware of the tension but neither acting on it yet in silent agreement. Hongbin agreed to return in a week to begin treatment. Wonsik never fully committed to the proposed deal, but Hongbin hoped he’d come around. He knew how hard it was to let go of a family member.

 

The city looked different when Hongbin stepped out of the apartment building. Brighter.

 

And Hongbin may have forgotten the feeling of love but he hoped Wonsik could help him remember.

 

~~~

  

_Earlier:_

 

Wonsik told his mother about the proposed treatment at the first opportunity. He presented the facts in the most logical way he knew how, which basically meant reading Hongbin’s article word for word, and waited for his mother’s reaction.

 

It was not a promising one.

 

A beer bottle met its untimely demise as she sent it spinning towards his face. It whipped past Wonsik’s ear, and he knew she had good aim and would have hit him if she’d actually wanted to but it was the thought that counted and his mother had just thrown a beer bottle at his head. That never felt good.

 

“Kim Wonsik,” she said, and Wonsik thought it would have been worse if she’d shouted but she didn’t, her voice was soft and filled with poison and cut him to the bone.

 

“I will not be fixed like a broken toy. I have made my decision and I will live with it and I will not suffer your attempts at piecing me back together.” Her eyes were bright with determination and Wonsik just wanted her to turn that determination to her recovery but she refused.

 

“Mom,” he tried, hands extended placatingly. “Please, this one will actually work. He’s not some therapist telling you to feel better, ok, he- he has a spell-”

 

Sunyoung closed her eyes. “This one’s a fairy?” she asked, voice tired.

 

Wonsik had told her about the supernatural world a few weeks after his turning, when he’d returned to the apartment a week later and found her sitting at the coffee table, type B blood bags spread out in front of her. She’d though he was in a cult. To be honest, she wasn’t far off.

 

The most shocking thing to her had been the existence of Nephilim, whose existence also implied that of angels and, therefore, Heaven. Wonsik wasn’t too concerned with Heaven, considering he might never die, and, if he did, he doubted vampires went to Heaven.

 

(He wished the most shocking thing to his mother had been his death. She’d never asked.)

 

Wonsik nodded. Hongbin was a fairy, in every way imaginable. Except, perhaps, his temperament, which resembled that of a hellcat. Maybe if she were confident that it would definitely work, she would agree to the treatment.

 

“Let me see the paper.”

 

Wonsik handed over the article explaining the details of the spell. Things were slowly looking a little better. Wonsik tried to ignore the seed of hope in his chest. That would only make it more painful if she refused the help. (When, he couldn’t help thinking.)

 

His mother’s eyes skimmed the page quickly, frowning in concentration. Her mouth moved slightly as she read.

 

“Ok,” she said, tossing the pages down onto the coffee table. “I’ll see him.”

 

Wonsik could have hugged her right at that instant but she had just tossed a bottle at him and he was still hesitant.

 

And it seemed too easy. She was planning something, he knew. He just didn’t know what yet. He could see her mind working behind her clouded eyes.

 

Wonsik hoped everything went the way he planned. He sent a quick text to Hongbin, including his address and proposing a time and date. They agreed on the coming Friday, and as much as Wonsik worried about his mother, he looked forward to seeing the fairy again.

 

~~~

 

Sunyoung was glad she wasn’t immortal. Forever on this earth seemed like hell to her. What was that quote, about looking into the void and the void staring back? Well, she was _glaring_ into the void with all her strength, begging the darkness to rise up and drink her in but she was too much of a coward to do it herself. The small part of her that still cared about her son hoped he would find a way to move on from the tiny, one bedroom apartment they shared and the baggage that came with it. He deserved to.

 

And then the pretty fairy walked in, power dripping off his skin, and she may be half drunk but even she could see the way they looked at each other, and she felt a little less guilty about the deal she had made. _He has someone else now_ , she thought. _He can forget about me._

 

~~~

 

Wonsik was in a daze for the majority of the consultation.

 

(First, though, he’d like to make it known that Hongbin was pretentious and _consultation_ was much too formal a word for the chaotic meeting that occured in his run down apartment.)

 

When Hongbin had rung the doorbell and his voice had come through the shitty speakers, crackly and washed out but still recognizable for the musicality of it, he’d almost backed out of the meeting right then and there. But he needed to do this, for himself and for his mother, and his wimpy ass could manage looking a pretty boy in the face and having a serious conversation.

 

At least he hoped so. Every passing second in Hongbin’s presence challenged that hypothesis.

 

He had pulled Hongbin aside for a little explanation of the warzone the doctor was about to enter, and the conversation was awkward but necessary because he couldn’t very well toss Hongbin to the wolves without some warning first.

 

And then Hongbin brought up the finicky catch-22 of the spell and Wonsik started to feel apprehensive. The spell only worked if the patient wanted to be cured, but he needed the spell to work so his mother would want to be cured. Wonsik’s head hurt. He’d never liked _Catch-22_.

 

With a sigh he opened the door, letting Hongbin in and preparing himself for the massacre.

 

It wasn’t enough. None of it was.

 

Everything had been going smoothly until his mom revealed her plan, and Wonsik’s hopes came crashing down in a rain of debris.

 

“No,” he said, vibrating with anger and fear and the knowledge that she wasn’t going to change her mind. _You can’t do that. Please don’t. Don’t make me give up on you, I don’t know what else to do. I’m immortal and you’re all I have._

 

He looked pleadingly at Hongbin, begging him to understand and support him, but Hongbin didn’t. Hongbin looked into Wonsik’s eyes and said, “I think it’s a good idea.”

 

Wonsik was falling, falling into a stifling darkness without a light and no one to help him out and this had been his last chance; his mother was going to take Hongbin’s spell and do nothing. She wouldn’t try to get better because she didn’t want to, and Wonsik was finally beginning to understand that nothing he did, nothing he promised or gave would ever be enough to convince her that life was still worth living. He had given so much.

 

Wonsik had to get out. He had to get out of the apartment. And he had to take Hongbin with him, because Hongbin was the only one here and also the only one he trusted to keep him from drowning.

 

Wonsik stumbled out of the apartment, using Hongbin’s shoulders as support, and collapsed against the opposite wall, leaving Hongbin against the door in front of him.

 

“Hongbin,” he said, because in that second that was the only word he could think of.

 

“Hongbin, you don’t know her.” His words were coming out in a rush and he couldn’t stop them. “She’s lying to you, she won’t try to recover, and then when she doesn’t, she’ll insist I give up on her and I just can’t do that-”

 

He felt cool fingers on his cheek, gently lifting his head up. Hongbin crouched in front of him, concern on his beautiful face.

 

“Her deal works for both you and her,” the fairy said, and Wonsik wanted to cry, but he didn’t want to do so in front of this magical immortal. Hongbin kept talking but it his words were drowned out by Wonsik’s heart beating in his ears.

 

“I can’t leave her, Hongbin. She’s all I have.”

 

“She doesn’t appreciate everything you do for her,” Hongbin said, and it came out savage and sharp, because Hongbin had a way with words, he could take them and sharpen them and direct them straight to the place that hurt the most.

 

“You can’t live your whole life for your mother,” he said.

 

Wonsik looked up miserably. “I have to. I have no one else to live for.”

 

And oh. Maybe that wasn’t true anymore, because the fairy in front of him froze, eyes wide, and Wonsik wanted to say _please, please give me something else to live for_ , and _please let that be you, Hongbin. Because you are smart and beautiful and magic incarnate and I want to hear the music in your voice for the rest of my long immortal life._

 

Wonsik felt the sadness in his chest melt away to a new, blooming feeling of warmth that spread to the rest of his body, and it had been so long since he’d felt anything in this cold vampire body of his that it took him by surprise. But he never wanted it to leave, and staring at Hongbin in front of him he knew that if he stayed by the side of this fairy, it never would.

 

Hongbin’s eyes were bright and shiny, and with what Wonsik didn’t know, but it didn’t really matter in that moment. Wonsik felt the fairy’s magic on his skin. It felt like fire and smoke and sparks of electricity and he thought it was the perfect fit for the fierce, restless man kneeling in front of him.

 

Hongbin spoke, and the magic in his voice shook Wonsik to his core. “You must have someone to live for,” he said.

 

Wonsik felt a small smile spread across his face. “Maybe I do.”

 

Wonsik was in love. There was no other word for it. Perhaps his mother would improve, more likely not, but even if she didn’t, Wonsik would have someone to help him through it. Hongbin would be there.

 

Wonsik really wanted him to be there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are looking up for our resident fairy scientist and Soft Boy wonsik. Hakyeon and Taekwoon next chapter... Hope you enjoyed :)


	5. Chapter 5

Taekwoon hated New Jersey. (Mostly because Taekwoon liked to find things to hate and at this moment New Jersey was prime real estate but also because Jaehwan never shut up about the city and Taekwoon made it his life’s goal to resent everything Jaehwan liked. In the friendliest of ways.)

 

But the rainy and generally unpleasant weather on the way to the PATH subway was not helping Taekwoon’s cloudy mood and made the fairy resemble a wet cat. Taekwoon grumbled his way through the ticket purchasing process and pushed through the often jammed metal turnstiles at the entrance. At least it was cheap and convenient to get to New Jersey. Otherwise Taekwoon might have called off the plan before it even fully began.

 

Very few immortals owned cars, or any other items that needed large purchases and government documentation. It was just too difficult to get all the papers necessary to complete the purchase. Imagine walking up to the DPS to get a license and your birthdate being in the 1800’s. It just didn’t sit well with the mortals. For this reason, the Fae were very proud of their Manhattan headquarters. It had been purchased with the help of the immortal black market (although the details of the exchange were top secret), and there were about 9 fairies whose only job was taking care of the complex glamour that made it appear to be a regular office building. The Fae regarded the building as a testament to their power and ability. The Parliament could keep their dusty abandoned museum; Taekwoon had functioning air-conditioning.

 

The plan that had come to Taekwoon at a respectable 4 AM, the devil’s hour as far as Jaehwan was concerned (too early to wake up but if you really thought those last few hours were going to help you in the slightest you were delusional), and he’d decided to run with it. The fairy held what was pretty much the most powerful position in the- admittedly lax -Fae military.

 

(Commander of Aerial Legions. They were fairies. All legions were aerial. The original creators of the Fae forces had too hard of a time trying to convince fairies to consider _walking_ into battle when they were equipped with fucking wings and so the movement for ground forces never passed.)

 

But this meant that Taekwoon had no one to answer to but his own conscience and the absent Fairy Queen. Her absence was understandable; she had lived for so many thousands of years it was almost incorrect to call her a person. She was more of a vaguely fairy shaped gathering of magic that became sentient ever hundred years to eat some fruit. So at 4 AM, many hours and bottles of liquor past his normal bedtime, Taekwoon had finally come to the realization that he was the main force behind the Fae, and if he wanted to stop fighting who was going to tell him no?

 

Not Jaehwan, certainly. He was too busy screwing Hakyeon’s second to focus at the moment. And Hongbin would probably throw him a party and ask what took so long.

 

But Taekwoon couldn’t just post a selfie with the caption #War’sOverGoHome on his insta could he? The Fae would require a more official disbandment of forces, first of all, and secondly and more importantly, the vampires would never go for it. The perpetually suspicious Parliament would take advantage of the now defenseless Fae and attack en masse. It would be a bloodbath. And Taekwoon couldn’t let that happen. There had to be other ways to win the war without one side coming out on top.

 

Because for the first time in many years Taekwoon wanted the war to end. It had been a sort of eureka moment, actually. Taekwoon had woken up one day to find that he was content with his immortal life. The war was simply… inconsequential. Maybe the realization was the product of one too many nights out with Jaehwan or maybe it was inevitable. Either way, the vampires has to be convinced to stop.

 

But the Parliament never would.

 

One thing Taekwoon knew about immortals; they liked stability. And the stability tended towards stagnation after hundreds of years of nothing but the same, and the Parliament was a perfect example of a panel of unfeeling, unthinking statues masquerading as people.

 

Taekwoon also knew Hakyeon hated the Parliament. Taekwoon knew a surprising amount about the sneaky vampire although the number of times they’d met face to face could be counted on one hand. The fairy could see the vampire’s mark on the intel missions the vamps ran and hear his words in the passive-aggressive emails he kept receiving trying to convince him to sell the Fae HQ building in Manhattan. He didn’t even know how Hakyeon had gotten his email address. He could smell wisps of the man’s perfume in the bases he’d raided hours after the event. The vampire sometimes seemed like a ghost hovering just behind his shoulder, smiling his little fanged grin. Some days Taekwoon wished Hakyeon were actually there, just so he could have an intelligent conversation with another person. (Jaehwan didn’t count and Hongbin was just… too much.)

 

Anyway, a few years ago Taekwoon had Jaehwan bug Hakyeon’s car. (How Jaehwan got access to Hakyeon’s car is anyone’s guess, but it is important to note that Hakyeon shared his car with Sanghyuk that particular week. One must use their imagination.) The resulting footage- once heavily edited by one Lee Jaehwan- was 12 minutes and 37 seconds of Cha Hakyeon cursing the Parliament to Hell and back.

 

And Taekwoon also knew how reluctant the vampire was to actually engage in skirmishes in which people were injured. So it seemed Hakyeon would be receptive to the idea of cutting off the head of the metaphorical snake. All that was left was catching the knife that would do it and unfortunately, Cha Hakyeon was notoriously difficult to catch. Taekwoon had lengthy personal experience with this.

 

(Catching Hakyeon wasn’t the only thing on Taekwoon’s list of things to accomplish. His head was also occupied with the project Hongbin was tackling at the moment. Finding Hakyeon was only the first step; they still had to take out the Parliament.)

 

Taekwoon was jolted out of his thoughts by the screeching arrival of the train into the New Jersey station. Stepping out of the train, the underground air smelled damp and unpleasant. Taekwoon did not like leaving the comfort of his office building. Carrying his bag in one hand, which contained a change of clothes, file of papers and a taser (because Taekwoon was nothing if not prepared and more often than not the taser was the perfect excuse to explain any unpleasant shock humans might feel after getting on his bad side), Taekwoon stepped out of the station and lifted his hand to hail a cab.

 

He needed to head straight to the base. He knew Jaehwan had already gotten the fake information out to someone (probably Sanghyuk), and Hakyeon would be on his way. The vampire would be particularly eager to succeed after his recent failure, although it really hadn’t been his fault. Neither side had gained anything from that exchange. That seemed to be the theme of this war.

 

The cab driver gruffly complained about the afternoon traffic as he drove out to the state park within which the base was located. Fairies still couldn’t drop the need to be in nature, Taekwoon supposed. Shame. He didn’t like dirt.

 

The paper file rested across his lap. It didn’t actually have any weapon plans inside- instead it contained a pretty strong stamp of Taekwoon’s magic, which he was sure Hakyeon would recognize, and a little note. Hopefully the vampire would react appropriately and calmly and acquiesce to a meeting. Hopefully. But Hakyeon was temperamental and unpredictable and even Taekwoon had no idea where this meeting might go.

 

As the taxi rolled to a stop in front of the main information building Taekwoon shoved the file under his arm and hopped lightly out of the car. He tipped the driver because he was a nice person and squinted his eyes, taking in the setting sun. At some point during the drive the dismal rain had stopped and the clouds had evaporated, leaving the darkening sky on display above the trees. Taekwoon supposed there was something to be said for nature. Not that he personally knew what that would be.

 

The state park was one of those that encouraged camping, so Taekwoon got some weird looks walking in. The base was disguised as a run down storage shed sitting beside an empty playground, and at first look, the wooden doors covered in splinters and shelves sagging with age and dusty, depleted sports equipment, it seemed like nothing more than it appeared to be. Taekwoon closed the doors behind him, sending a tendril of magic into the dusty lightbulb. He inspected the shelf at eye level, which would be a pretty high shelf to others as he was fairly tall, and picked up a rusted metal key with two fingers, grimacing. Turning back to the closed doors, he wiggled the old key into the lock and gave it a squeaky turn. A lock clicked heavily. Taking out the key and tossing it back onto its shelf, Taekwoon pushes open the wooden doors, hinges squeaking.

 

The view he was greeted with was not the empty playground backed by a darkening forest he had left. Instead, Taekwoon was faced with a sleek, well-lit facility and a smartly dressed welcoming committee. Jaehwan stood beside a tall, stern-faced woman, both with their wings out, shimmering slightly.

 

Taekwoon smiled. The air vibrated with magic.

 

Raising an eyebrow at the two fairies, Taekwoon lifted the paper file he had brought. His fingertips sparked with magic.

 

“We have a vampire to catch.”

 

~~~

 

HAKYEON

 

It was raining and Hakyeon was wet and uncomfortable but he supposed it emptied the streets, lending more secrecy to his current pursuit, so he was a little less pissed than he would have been. That being said, it still wasn’t a great idea for the greasy pixie currently trying to cheat him out of cash to continue doing so. Hakyeon had limited patience. Coweski had been late and he had already been out far longer than he’d wanted to be.

 

“$375,” the pixie was saying, leering smile on his face. He shook his closed fist a little bit. “These are valuable, Mr. Vampire. I went through a lot of trouble for these.”

 

Hakyeon shook his head. “We already agreed on $250.”

 

“But that was before I knew I was going to have to steal these from a fancy house with lots of security, Mr. Vampire. $350.” Coweski’s voice was nasal and whiny and Hakyeon was sick of hearing it.

 

“I’ll pay you $257,” Hakyeon said, teeth bared in a mockery of a smile. Pixies were allergic to prime numbers. Gave them chills.

 

The pixie shivered. “That was cruel, Mr. Vampire. I have a wife and children at home. I risked my life for these, would you condemn my children to starvation?”

 

Hakyeon’s fangs itched to bite the irritating pixie’s head off his shoulders. There was no way this freakshow of a black market fairy had managed to get a woman to marry him. The vampire inwardly scoffed at the poor attempt at a lie. He checked his watch. It was time for this deal to close.

 

“I’ll give you $275,” Hakyeon said, “And a bonus.” Pixies couldn’t resist the temptation of a surprise.

 

True to form, Coweski licked his thin lips, curiosity wiping his mind of his asking price. “Bonus?” he asked, leaning a little closer to Hakyeon.

 

In a flash Hakyeon had the pixie up against the rain washed brick of the alleyway, hand wrapped around his neck. He bared his fangs, lips curling into a savage smile.

 

“Your life.”

 

Coweski squeaked, squirming in Hakyeon’s grip. He dropped his hand and the pixie scampered a few feet away. (It still wasn’t a safe distance but Hakyeon wasn’t going to say anything.)

 

“There’s no need for violence, Mr. Vampire,” he whined, rubbing his neck. “$275 it is.”

 

Money changed hands and the brown paper-wrapped package was handed to Hakyeon in shakily. Finally. Hakyeon couldn’t get sick anymore but he swore he could feel a cold coming on.

 

By the time he made it back to his hotel in Jersey City, it was late afternoon and the rain was easing off. Good thing too, because Hakyeon didn’t plan to go traipsing about a state park in the pouring rain. He had standards.

 

Hakyeon dripped his way up the elevator and to his door, sliding the key through the card reader and clicking open the door with deft fingers. Flipping on the lights, the vampire collapsed onto the bed, tossing the wrapped package next to him.

 

Hakyeon lay there for several minutes.

 

Eventually, with great effort, he pulled himself into a seated position and started unwrapping the package. The paper was a bit damp, but Coweski had done a good job protecting his merchandise. At least he had that going for him, because his bargaining was shit. Pushing the wrapping paper aside, Hakyeon observed the tinted pair of sunglasses he’d just paid $275 for from the magical black market. He smiled. The traipse through the forest would be made much better with his new equipment.

 

Placing the glasses on the table, Hakyeon began the preparations for the mission. Hakyeon would never admit it, but he was fucking terrified of the Parliament, those six old-as-fuck vampires with their shark eyes and petrified limbs. If he failed this mission, he would have failed one too many times and that would be the end of his immortal life. Hakyeon liked to think that if he ran, left the country, he’d make it, but the fact was the Parliament had infinite patience and it would only be so long before Hakyeon grew tired of looking over his shoulder. The image of his burning captain, her eyes blazing with fear and pain and fire, was never far.

 

(And if he failed, his second would become captain. Han Sanghyuk would lead vampire reconnaissance. Hakyeon wished he could see the Parliament’s faces when they realized their new captain got all of his intel by sleeping with a fairy.)

 

Hakyeon sometimes wondered how Sanghyuk had been turned. The boy had never told him, even when he was drunk out of his mind. Hakyeon loved Sanghyuk and never regretted meeting him, but he hated whoever had taken his second’s life.

 

Hakyeon slipped into his mission outfit- a short sleeved shirt with a light jacket, because you never knew what the weather would be like, slim pants, and boots with a slight heel, all in shades of black. He also combed his hair, because he may be spying but he would do so in style. He perched the recently bought sunglasses on his head and slipped a small handgun into his belt, hidden under his jacket. The gun wasn’t really going to be that useful; fairies tended to know how guns worked, making it easy for them to spell the weapon useless. His trusty knife he saved for last, tucked into a neat scabbard on his waist.

 

Hakyeon’s knife was special to him. He’d had it custom made a few years after his turning, the long, slim blade engraved with water lilies. Water lilies, because he thought they were beautiful and it gave him pleasure to stab people with such a pretty blade. (And for another reason, but that was for another time.)

 

It wasn’t hard to kill fairies, actually. (Much harder to kill a vampire, particularly the older ones.) Fairies were susceptible to everything mortals were, barring disease and old age. A well placed bullet, knife, or explosion could bring one down pretty easily, even better when they were alone. A lone fairy didn’t have a partner on hand to heal them, and magic was difficult when one was bleeding out.

 

The hardest part was getting close enough to shoot one. The arsenal of long range magic fairies enjoyed negated the power and force vampires held in close quarters, and so actually deaths were few and far between. The war was at a stalemate, both queens off the board and pawns positioned head to head; couldn’t take the other player’s, couldn’t move either. Zero sum game.

 

With one last glance in the floor length mirror, Hakyeon was done. He took a long breath to settle himself and his thoughts, getting into his Mission Zone. (Sanghyuk liked to tease him about his Mission Zone, but he’d seen the little brat singing to himself so who was he to judge?) He stepped out of the hotel room, shoving the key card in his back pocket. The sun would go down soon and he wanted to have plenty of time to find the base before dawn tomorrow.

 

Hailing a cab was easy. The damp streets had started to reflect the soft yellow glow of streetlights. Pulling up Sanghyuk’s last text, he checked the location of the base. It was secluded away inside some state park, because fairies couldn’t seem to get away from being forest creatures at heart. The taxi sped off down the mirrored streets.

 

(Actually, Sanghyuk’s last texts had been an exceedingly unhelpful _getting some dick dont wait for me_ , followed by _just saw a hot fairy hope u get some 2,_ which Hakyeon now realized was in reference to Taekwoon entering the club as the two seconds had been leaving. He tried not to think about it too much. Bad for his health.)

 

The drive wasn’t too long, and by the time the cab pulled up by the main visitor’s center, clouds had dissipated to reveal a dark sky. Hakyeon couldn’t feel any magic yet.

 

He waited until the sound of crunching gravel had disappeared, and then he put on the sunglasses.

 

Two months ago, when Hakyeon had been told he needed to break into an assortment of Fae camps and steal battle plans, the first thing he’d done was find a way to see the camps. Fae camps were notoriously difficult to find, cloaked in layers and layers of heavy glamour until a vampire could be standing on top of a camp and not know it. The solution, Hakyeon discovered, was magical. He commissioned Coweski to find him a way to track magical residue. If he were able to see the streaks of magic leftover from visiting fairies he would be able to find the base. Easy as pie.

 

Of course, the goods didn’t arrive in time and he’d had to find the bases the old fashioned way, by hiking through miles and miles of woods, but now he got to use them and he felt validated. (Was it $275 of validation? Hakyeon wasn’t sure, but the charge was to his work credit so he didn’t care too much.)

 

Looking around, Hakyeon could see wisps of shimmery light floating around, resembling the hot air above a boiling pot if you dumped some glitter into it. Hakyeon waved his hand through the nearest streak. The trace was so faint he didn’t feel anything. He set off down the road, following a trail of winding light down the slightly curved road.

 

After about five minutes of walking around in sunglasses at 9 pm and getting weird looks from campers, Hakyeon arrived at a playground. It was empty, which was kind of freaky but Hakyeon was literally undead and if anyone was freaky it was him so he wasn’t scared. The magic traces were steadily getting stronger, and so was his feeling of unease. The magic felt odd. It was behaving oddly, Hakyeon realized, curling around his hands and face like a sleepy cat.

 

There was a faint blue glow coming from an old shed at the corner of the playground, spilling from under the door and between the cracks. Hakyeon approached slowly. The glasses would show magic but not the purpose of it, so there was no telling if the glow was a trap. He flipped the rusted metal latch and carefully slipped into the darkness of the shed. He didn’t know where the light switch was, if there was one, but he could see in the dark anyway. Suck it, fairies. _Bet I have a lower electricity bill._ (As if Hakyeon paid bills. According to the government, Hakyeon had died of cancer 98 years ago. His apartment was rented out by one Bram Stoker, which was one of Hakyeon’s little jokes.)

 

He closed the door behind him. No reason for any of the campers to see someone messing around in an open shed wearing sunglasses late at night. Everything glowed with a faint light, and the disquieting feeling was even stronger. Something about the magic felt strange, Hakyeon just couldn’t put his finger on it.

 

The glow was brighter on the third shelf. A little metal key shone with blue light. Hakyeon picked it up and inspected it for some kind of clue as to where it went. There was nothing written on it, no numbers or signs. The vampire sighed, watching the magic swirl around him in eddies.

 

He reached out to open the shed door again, only to see that it wasn’t wood he was touching, but cold, utilitarian metal. He looked back at the key in his hand. And yes, there was a keyhole in the new door. Hakyeon didn’t know much about magic, but he knew this was pretty high level stuff. Fitting that such an advanced base would hold the new weapon plans.

 

He fitted the key into the door, hoping it wouldn’t set off any kind of alarm inside. If so, he was prepared to turn the reconnaissance mission into a more physical one. He would get those plans. The Parliament was not going to burn another captain if Hakyeon had anything to say about it.

 

The lock clicked. The door swung open on surprisingly silent hinges and Hakyeon stuck his head out into an empty hallway, lit from above with fluorescent lights. There was only silence. No pounding boots, no shouting voices or alarms. It seemed that no one had noticed his entry.

 

Hakyeon still felt anxious. The base had been ridiculously well hidden. Without the sunglasses, he would never have been able to find it. It didn’t make sense for there to be no guards. He couldn’t imagine the fairies being confident enough to slack on the security, but maybe they had. Hakyeon proceeded with caution. Now to find the plans.

 

He’d given this portion of the mission some thought. He assumed the existence of the plans was known to the people running this base, so all he had to do was corner a poor fairy somewhere with high enough security clearance and ask them where they were. Easy.

 

Hakyeon walked quietly through the halls, wishing he had magic so he could toss a glamour over himself. There were few signs on the walls, one pointing to the bathroom. Hakyeon smiled. It was not a pleasant one.

 

~~~

 

Michael was a dick. This was a known fact amongst the fairies of Belleplain Fort. He was arrogant and rude and always hexing people’s shoes to slip on the smooth floors. So when Michael came racing into the mess hall, breathing hard, ranting about a vampire in the first floor bathroom, no one paid attention. The general opinion was one of disappointment that the vampire hadn’t eaten Michael. Everyone continued eating and waited for Michael to shut up.

 

But Michael didn’t shut up. Words spilled out of his mouth nonsensically until one of the squad leaders came up to him asked him to _please stop your joke isn’t very funny._

 

Michael nearly tore out his hair. “I swear it’s not a joke!” he cried, sparks literally flying off his skin in his distress. “There is a fucking vampire in the first floor bathroom!”

 

The squad leader was also beginning to suspect that this wasn’t a joke. She exchanged a glance with the rest of her squad.

 

“Ok Michael, what did the vampire do?”

 

Michael’s eyes were wide. “He shoved me in a closet!”

 

The room erupted into laughter.

 

Then the raid sirens went off.

 

~~~

 

Hakyeon had indeed shoved unsuspecting Michael into a closet, although he had done much more than that, the fairy just didn’t remember any of it.

 

Hakyeon had hidden inside one of the empty stalls in the bathroom. It hadn’t taken long for someone to walk in, boots clicking on the tile, humming slightly. Hakyeon waited a few more seconds to let the fairy get farther from the door, then he pounced. With vampire speed he slammed the fairy into the wall beside the sinks, fangs bared.

 

The fairy screeched, fingers clawing at Hakyeon’s hands keeping him trapped against the wall, but fairy strength had nothing on a vampire’s ability. A few weak sparks spasmed from his hands but his general state of panic inhibited his magic. (In any case, the sparks mortals felt when touched by a fairy were harmless to vampires. Their state of undeath made the magic pass right through them.) Perfect, Hakyeon thought. I’ve caught a weaker one. A glance at his nametag told him that the spluttering fairy was named Private Michael Kinser.

 

Michael Kinser was about to have a bad day.

 

Hakyeon pressed his forearm against the fairy’s neck, forcing his eyes up to Hakyeon’s face. “Hello, Private Kinser,” Hakyeon said. “I have a question for you.”

 

It’s worth noting that although vampires did not have _magic,_ they did have a _persuasion_ of sorts. (This distinction was very important; fairies did not like their magic compared to the base power vampires possessed. Fairy magic was of a higher class.) This persuasion didn’t have a name, but when vampires talked about it they did so with audible capital letters.

 

Hakyeon didn’t quite know how it worked, he just knew not all vampires could do it. It required practice and a certain...charisma not everyone possessed. Hakyeon did. He had charisma in spades. (Sanghyuk had it as well. To date he had used it on one person, Lee Jaehwan. Jaehwan had actually been resisting the Speaking at the time, as more powerful fairies could, but Sanghyuk didn’t know this. Jaehwan had told him the information anyway. Part of their game.)

 

So when Hakyeon spoke to this fairy, it was more accurate to say that he Spoke. His voice was layered with command and the temptation to answer quickly and truthfully. Few could resist a vampire’s Voice.

 

Private Michael Kinser was not one of them. When Hakyeon Spoke, his eyes glazed over and his scrabbling hands sagged to his sides.

 

Hakyeon smiled and relaxed his hold, letting the vampire slump into the wall. He stepped back. “Where are the weapon plans?” Hakyeon Asked. His Voice echoed around the tiled bathroom.

 

Michael shivered. “Weapon plans are kept in the science labs,” he said, words slightly slurred.

 

Hakyeon sighed. “Do where the science labs are?” he Asked.

 

“Yes.”

 

Hakyeon gritted his teeth. He always forgot how specific you had to be when Speaking. He rarely used it. He didn’t like how it felt. Hakyeon much preferred people to do things for him out of their own free will.

 

“Where are the science labs?”

 

Michael thought for a second, head tilted to the side. “In the basement. There are elevators around the corner.”

 

Success. Now to take care of the loose end. Hakyeon stared into the soldier’s eyes. “You will not remember this conversation,” he Said.

 

Michael nodded. Hakyeon grabbed the limp fairy by his shoulders and walked him over to the supply closet, opening it and shoving him inside.

 

“Sleep,” Hakyeon Said. The fairy slumped to the ground. Hakyeon locked and shut the door, dusting off his hands. The Speaking would wear off eventually, but hopefully the fairy would stumble out of the closet confused without raising an alarm.

 

Hakyeon headed out and hopped into an elevator. No kind of identification was required. The basement was as well lit as the rest of the building, but there were no hallways. It was one wide open room filled with tables and scientific looking equipment. Hakyeon had just begun his search for suspicious looking plans when the realization hit him.

 

Hakyeon groaned. _Forget this conversation_ , he’d Said. Not _forget the entire attack_. The fairy would wake up, remember being ambushed by a vampire, discover a black spot in his brain, and run screaming to his friends.

 

 _Fuck._ Somewhere in the building an alarm went off.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a set up chapter for the bigger things coming up soon. We're close to the end of the first arc... ALSO user inkin_brushes wrote this vamp au called immortals thats 560k words of literally the best things i've ever read i love everything about it just putting this out there (https://archiveofourown.org/series/425302 the link if u want to read it.) Hope you enjoyed :)


	6. Chapter 6

Hongbin delivered the treatment to Wonsik’s apartment in person, three days after the disastrous consultation. Wonsik invited him in for a coffee but the fairy had refused, citing an extreme hatred of coffee and previous obligations. Some top secret Fae plan, Wonsik assumed.

 

(He never realized how right he’d been. Hongbin left New York after stopping by Wonsik’s apartment and headed straight to Belleplain State Forest. Had to show his face there a few times in order to convince the fairies he was actually involved in the creation of the new weapon. He really just headed down to the basement and sat bored for a few hours. What even was his life.)

 

The treatment came in the shape of a clear glass stone, wrapped in a thin, copper wire cage and strung onto a thin string, obviously meant to be worn as a necklace. But just in case, Hongbin had included a paper of instructions. _It’s a necklace,_ the instructions said. _Wear it._

 

Thanks, Hongbin.

 

Wonsik had handed the amulet to his mother, who had strung it around her neck haphazardly and collapsed back into the old couch. 

 

“Please keep it on,” Wonsik had begged. With a wave of her hand his mother dismissed him.

 

Wonsik had dutifully inspected the necklace everyday for some sign that it was having an effect. It was meant to change color when the corruption was out of her system.

 

This was how Wonsik understood it; Potassium chlorate, KClO3, produced a purple flame when burned. The compound didn’t really matter to the magic of the amulet, as long as it changed color, but Hongbin was particularly fond of purple. The amulet was spelled, using a long and complicated process Hongbin had invented that Wonsik did not understand at all, to pull out any harmful chemicals in Sunyoung’s blood stream, while also protecting from negative effects of going cold turkey. The spell rebooted the brain’s reward system and made it so the patient could avoid the painful comedown. Once the pollutants were sucked from her blood, the amulet was meant to turn purple. Wonsik’s takeaway was that Hongbin was a genius.

 

But this had all been a week ago. The amulet was meant to work in one week (seven days) and this was the eighth day and the amulet was still as translucent as it had been when Hongbin had handed it to him. As much as Wonsik wanted to believe the amulet was malfunctioning, he knew the fault lay solely in his mother. 

 

As Hongbin had said, magic was finicky. Often times fairies had difficulty making it do what they wanted in ordinary cases. There was no way the magic would work for one who didn’t want it to. Although Wonsik wasn’t quite sure whether his mother simply didn’t _want_ it to work or was actively working against it, but he didn’t think it made much of a difference from the magic’s point of view. The end result was the same.

 

Turbulent emotions boiling inside Wonsik made it impossible for him to think. He had taken one look at the clear amulet that morning and walked out of the tense apartment in silence. 

 

The vampire was an emotional mess. Anger and sadness and fear and uncertainty dominated his mind as he aimlessly walked through the streets of the city. Anger at his mother for not trying harder, sadness that she refused to, fear and uncertainty for the future now that his one anchor had finally snapped, breaking the last fragile string tethering him to the world in this immortal life. 

 

Wonsik was adrift in a city he’d known all his life, although by some accounts that life had stopped 18 years ago, but somehow he felt confused. The buildings didn’t look the same, didn’t carry the same meaning they once had. Or perhaps he was just seeing them with different eyes.

 

Since he was turned his mother had been his whole world. It was difficult to keep mortal friends once they started aging and asked what skin products he used to stay so young. _The blood of innocents,_ he’d once said, years ago. His friend had laughed, not realizing that Wonsik had been completely truthful. The truth was sometimes the hardest to believe.

 

Wonsik’s turning had been a sudden affair. The result of a freak vampire attack, the nice paramedic had told him when he’d woken up in an unfamiliar white room. Wonsik hadn’t even known vampires existed. (He’d read Twilight like every other teen at the time, but to be honest, he'd been team Jacob all the way. Edward was just… a bit creepy, what with the watching people sleep.) The paramedic had been sent by NYSA (New York Supernatural Association, pronounced nie-suh) in response to an anonymous call reporting a vampire attack. Wonsik had been given an informational video to watch. It featured cartoon representations of supernatural creatures. Wonsik had thought he was hallucinating. 

 

Wonsik had never properly dealt with the trauma of vampirism. It was partly the fact that someone had murdered him. Wonsik had _quite literally_ died. It wasn’t something he liked to think about. He couldn’t say he remembered much of it, only a poorly made decision to take a shortcut home through a sketchy looking alley and then a burst of fear and adrenaline. What followed was a hazy fog of cold teeth at his neck, cold hands on his shoulders, warm blood streaking down his hands and off his fingertips to splatter on the concrete like those cards psychiatrists showed their patients. Wonsik had never even seen the vampire’s face. 

 

But going past the fact that Wonsik was dead was the problem of immortality. Namely, that not enough people considered it to be a problem. And for all the years they’d lived, they were all delusional. In fact, Wonsik doubted many supernaturals could even bring themselves to gaze into the eternity stretched before them with open eyes and remain unbothered. The Immortal Problem, as Wonsik had dubbed it, for it never left and it was never solved, was more the fault of the people than of the gift itself. (He wasn’t quite sure it was a gift, but he wished it had come with a return address.) He supposed fairies and other true immortals were less bothered with the problem given they had been born into their immortal souls, but made immortals like vampires were unequipped to fathom the endlessness of immortality. 

 

The war was the product of the boredom stemming from this. But Wonsik wasn’t a philosopher, and he would leave the war to those who ran it, people like Cha and Jung who controlled the movement of soldiers like they could their own hands, with an ease like breathing and a mind sharpened with experience, magic in their blood and blood on their lips. 

 

The conclusion Wonsik was coming to was not a very nice one at all, and not one he wanted to think about. Perhaps his mother was right, and it was better to drug oneself into a stupor than consider the years stretched out before him. 

 

But no, Wonsik could never do that. Because he liked to think he was just a little stronger, just a little braver, just a little more comfortable in this new, cold skin of his that he would be able to face whatever came his way over the next hundreds of years without the help of fabricated pleasure.

 

The hollow feeling he had now felt oddly similar to when he had first turned. Now that he was out of the stifling apartment, overflowing with memories of better times and happier conversations clashing with images of his mother’s glazed, dead eyes, he could finally breathe. He could think without the constant pressure of his mother’s habits weighing him down, constantly pushing him beneath the surface of the water that burned like acid and never seemed to end. 

 

 _For how long_ , Wonsik wondered, _would I have lived like that?_ His turning had provided him with the excuse he needed to devote his time to his mother, in an attempt to do what none of the therapists had been able to accomplish. Wonsik scoffed. How had he ever deceived himself into thinking his mother would listen to him? What a fool he had been, buying that medicine and paying those doctors to help a woman who refused to be helped. He bet Hongbin had seen it all along. His father had, before he walked out of the apartment and never came back.

 

He was the only one stupid enough to stay, dumb enough to waste his time recovering something that would never return.

 

Wonsik raised his eyes from the cracked pavement and realized it was darker now. He observed his surroundings. They were familiar, although not in the way his apartment building felt familiarly of crushed hopes and broken glass. Here, Wonsik tasted magic.

 

His feet had, without conscious thought, brought him to Hongbin’s laboratory. 

 

Today was Saturday. Hongbin would not be at work. The lights inside the building were turned off.

 

But maybe Hongbin would take a call. Because Wonsik’s last anchor had broken loose and the vampire was unmoored, floating about the bustling city searching for something to ground him before he lost himself in the torrent of immortality, and the fairy was quickly becoming his compass. 

 

Wonsik pulled out his phone and dialled the number listed on that business card Hongbin had given him all that time ago. He thought he could feel the burn of fairy’s magic.

 

~~~

 

 

Hongbin’s phone rang. 

 

(It was set to the ringtone that sounded like a quacking duck, because Jaehwan was a little bitch had and forgone the ten dollars agreed upon for the loser of the bet and decided on a punishment all the more irritating. Hongbin hated ducks. Nasty little birds, swimming around and eating the bread tossed to them by unsuspecting citizens. Don’t even get him started on geese. Have you seen the teeth on those things? The photos were the stuff of nightmares.)

 

He wasted a few more seconds hating Jaehwan for the ringtone and then picked up. At first he thought it might be Taekwoon, calling about the project he’d lovingly titled something no one would ever be able to pronounce. He’d finished his design yesterday. All that was left now was the physical building. But the number wasn’t one he recognized. Hongbin liked to pick up anyway. He had an iPhone because it was one of the few pieces of technology that were compatible with the constant energy surrounding fairies. (Why do you think Androids kept exploding a while back?)

 

“This is Hongbin Lee,” he said into the phone. “Who is this?”

 

“Hongbin,” he heard, and even through the tiny speakers he recognized the voice on the other side. No introduction was necessary. “It didn’t work.”

 

Hongbin didn’t need any further context. What else could Wonsik be talking about but his mother? Of course it hadn’t worked. Hongbin could have told him that without the amulet. He could have told him that the second he stepped into the vampire’s apartment for the first time and saw the tired look in the woman’s eyes. He knew that look. He saw it every day in the mirror before he went to work and did what he hated for eight hours, and he saw it again at night when he knew he would be doing the same thing the next day. And the day after that. Until the war ended or Hongbin did. Whichever came first.

 

“Oh, Wonsik,” he said gently. “I’m sorry.” There was no need for him to stack his misery on top of the already distraught vampire. 

 

“I wasn’t sure you’d pick up,” Wonsik said. “I didn’t know if you had added me to your contacts or anything.” His voice was halting, like he didn’t quite know what to say but didn’t want to end the conversation.

 

Hongbin hadn’t put the vampire in his contacts, that was true. His contacts were limited to his friends; very few had his number, and even fewer used it. Putting the vampire’s name into his contacts had felt too personal at the time, and Hongbin hadn’t been ready to make the commitment, however minimal it seemed.

 

“I always pick up calls,” Hongbin said. “You never know when a Nigerian prince will offer you fifty thousand pounds of gold.”

 

Wonsik’s (adorable) laugh crackled through the phone. There was a moment of silence.

 

“I really am sorry about your mother,” Hongbin said, if only to have something to say. He wasn’t really. Maybe that made him a horrible person, but he was glad Wonsik was free from the chain that had kept him bound to that cramped apartment. The vampire deserved to enjoy what the world had to offer. What immortality had to offer. (Hongbin hadn’t found it yet, but he hoped the vampire could.)

 

“So am I,” the vampire replied.

 

“Do you want to come over?” Hongbin asked, and the offer surprised him even as it spilled from his lips, because he couldn’t remember the last time he’d invited anyone over, but somehow it just felt right. Easy. “For a cup of tea or something?”

 

“I prefer coffee,” Wonsik said. Hongbin was disgusted. But Wonsik was cute and at this point Hongbin would do anything for the poor vampire so he supposed he could manage corrupting his flat with the smell of coffee if it meant he got to see Wonsik against the backdrop of his room.

 

“I can make that, too.” Hongbin couldn’t actually, but how hard could it be. It was just bean water, really.

 

There was a pause on the other end of the line, as if Wonsik was considering saying no. 

 

“I’ll text you my address,” Hongbin continued, suddenly desperate to see the vampire. He’d never been this forceful in asking someone to his house, but he suddenly knew that if the vampire wasn’t in his kitchen in ten minutes he would actually combust. Wonsik felt too ephemeral over the phone.

 

“Yeah, ok,” Wonsik said. “I’d be happy to come over.” Hongbin hoped the slight tremble in his voice was something more akin to excitement rather than anything close to sadness. Although the vampire had every right to be sad after the events of the day. 

 

Hongbin set about boiling some water. Did he even own any coffee beans? Turned out he did. They were accompanied by a sticky note containing a scribbled smiley face next to a messy _Happy Birthday, Bean!_ in Jaehwan’s scratchy handwriting. Honbin opened the bag to find a finely ground, bitter smelling powder. He looked at it for a bit. Maybe just toss it into the hot water…? Hongbin took a spoonful of the powder and dumped it into his pot. That seemed pretty ok. He was just wondering whether or not the powder had to be taken out again when there was a knock at the door. He abandoned his bitter smelling concoction and made his way to the entrance.

 

Opening it revealed a tired looking Wonsik holding a large pizza box in front of him protectively. He offered it up. “I brought dinner?”

 

Hongbin smiled, taking the box from the vampire and stepping aside, waving him into the flat. “That’s great,” he said. “You can just put it on the table there, I’ll get plates.” Once in the kitchen, he poured the pot of coffee into a mug, balancing the plates on top and holding his mug of fragrant tea in the other hand. Wonsik looked odd sitting in his apartment, but not out of place. Hongbin could get used to seeing the vampire at his table. 

 

“I made you coffee,” Hongbin said brightly, placing the mug on the table and sitting down, arranging the plates in front of the two. The pizza smelled like pepperoni, always a good choice. (Pineapple was an abomination and Jaehwan would burn in the fires of hell for his consumption of it.)

 

Wonsik smiled tentatively, holding the mug with both hands and taking a sip. Honbin waited expectantly. The vampire’s expression twisted up and his nose wrinkled. He coughed, setting the cup back down and wiping his mouth. 

 

“Did you… leave in the grounds?” he asked. “Do you actually know how to make coffee?”

 

Hongbin cocked his head. “I just kind of… put the grounds into the hot water? Isn’t that what you do?”

 

Wonsik looked aghast. “You literally have three PhD’s! How can you not know how to make coffee?”

 

Hongbin shrugged, a small smile on his lips. “That’s what you do with tea, you know? I thought the grounds just kind of, dissolved…?”

 

“No! You have to wait for them to settle to the bottom or like, drain the coffee,” Wonsik was almost laughing at this point with sheer incredibility. How did the certified genius not know how to make coffee.

 

He put his head down on the table beside the gritty coffee, shoulders shaking. Hongbin bit into a slice of pizza. It was very good.

 

The two ate in silence for the most part, with intermittent comments about the weather this week or the state of Hongbin’s flat or the sale on clothes across the street. Minor stuff.  

 

And then Wonsik set down his cup of (grainy) coffee and said, “I don’t know what to do, Hongbin.”

 

Hongbin waited for Wonsik to continue. He understood the need to speak, to get it all off your chest and out of your heart. 

 

“I made that promise, and I can’t go back on it, but I also don’t know how to move forward.” Wonsik looked up at Hongbin, meeting the fairy’s eyes. “She’s my _mother,_ Hongbin. I can’t just leave her.” His voice almost cracked.

 

“I can’t tell you what you should do,” Hongbin said. “I can’t presume to know exactly what you’re going through right now, none of my family ever suffered from addiction. But I know what it feels like to lose someone.”

 

Wonsik remained silent, a silent question in his dark eyes.

 

Hongbin steadied himself. He could count on one hand the number of people he’d told this to. “My sister was ten years older than me. Her name was Siyeon. She was smart and beautiful and so much braver than I will ever be, and every day I regret that she was the one who died.” 

 

Wonsik took a sharp breath.

 

“She called me hummingbird. She had a life ahead of her in science, like me, but she had turned down the job the military had offered her. She was leaving New York, leaving the whole US, in fact, and moving in with a friend in England to pursue a career in clean energy development. She didn’t want to stay in a city where the only thing that mattered was an infinite war.” Hongbin’s voice was shaky. It had been a while since he had spoken of this. “Siyeon’s plane flight was a late one. Almost 2 AM, actually. And it was raining and the streets were wet and one person had been out drinking way too late.”

 

Tears collected in Honbin’s eyes. “Fairies aren’t supposed to die from something like a car crash, Wonsik,” he said. “But car was going way too fast and she was sitting on the wrong side and she was hit at exactly the wrong angle-” Hongbin sucked in a shuddering breath, trying to calm his racing heart. 

 

“I was 18 when I learned that magic wasn’t infallible. That it couldn’t heal everything.”

 

Story over, Hongbin looked into his tea cup and watched the leaves float around. Wonsik didn’t say anything for a while. Hongbin was glad.

 

“Is that why you haven’t left?” he asked.

 

Hongbin was glad Wonsik hadn’t said _I’m sorry._ Everyone said they were sorry, like it was personally their fault or something. _I’m sorry_ couldn’t bring her back, could it? Nothing could. Magic, in that regard, was useless. How could anything be impossible, in a world of magic?

 

Hongbin nodded. “This city reminds me of her,” he said, glancing out the window at the cityscape. “I feel like if I leave I’d forget some part of her.”

 

“You wouldn’t,” Wonsik said. Hongbin smiled bitterly. 

 

“No,” he said. “But I’m too scared to try.”

 

A sad smile curved across Wonsik’s mouth. Hongbin’s attention was dragged from the vampire’s eyes to his lips.

 

“Look at us,” Wonsik said. “We have magic and immortality and we’re wasting it being miserable because we can’t let go.”

 

Hongbin laughed, but it wasn’t a happy one. “Immortality is wasted on the wounded,” he said, voice hard. _How wrong people were,_ he thought, _to believe that immortality meant never dying._

 

Wonsik set his coffee mug down resolutely. “I will let her go,” he declared. Hongbin choked on his tea.

 

“What?”

 

“She’s made her decision and I’ve made my promise. She can stay in that apartment, killing herself more everyday, and I will make better use of the time I have, whether or not I asked for it.”

 

Hongbin wiped drops of tea off the table and inwardly smiled. _What a person,_ he thought. _I have had one hundred years to come to terms with my immortality, and this man manages to confront his mere years after his turning. I need to do better._

 

“Ok then,” Hongbin said. “You’re going to let go? Just like that?”

 

Wonsik shook his head. “It won’t be easy. It’s going to take time, and I’ll never wipe her from my memory, but I’d rather remember her from before rather than now. And she’s made it clear that she doesn’t want me near her anymore.”

 

Hongbin shrugged. “Well then. You didn’t even need me for this.”

 

Wonsik smiled slightly. “I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “You were very helpful.”

 

“Was I? I can’t imagine my depressing stories helped your mood.”

 

“No,” Wonsik said, face brightening and happier disposition returning, “But your face definitely has some medicinal properties.”

 

A surprised laugh spilled from Hongbin’s lips. “I’m sorry?” the fairy said.

 

Then Wonsik leaned across the table and kissed him. And Hongbin’s heart stopped. 

 

Quite literally stopped, if the sparks of magic frantically leaping over his skin had anything to say about it. His eyes were wide open, body tensed in surprise, and Wonsik’s face looked so beautiful up close, long eyelashes fluttering over dark eyes. (Long ago, people believed that in death, people became more beautiful, and in this moment Hongbin readily agreed.) He slowly relaxed into the kiss, because Wonsik’s lips were soft and unexpectedly warm and Hongbin had gone far too long without physical contact and was horribly touch starved. His hands went around the vampire’s shoulders without conscious thought and he deepened the kiss, tasting the coffee on Wonsik’s tongue, and Hongbin hated coffee but it didn’t taste so bad on Wonsik’s lips, dark and sweet and bitter. He could feel the vampire’s fangs, just the barest hint of them, pressed against his lips, and the touch of danger ignited something deep in his chest. 

 

He couldn’t remember the last time a kiss felt like this. Maybe it never had before. But Hongbin could barely think with Wonsik’s tongue practically in his mouth and he knew vampires didn’t have magic but he could have sworn he felt sparks. Something in his heart that he’d thought irrevocably ruined clicked back into place and Hongbin felt more whole than he’d felt in years.

 

His eyes slipped closed and for a few blessed seconds his head was silent, filled only with thoughts of Wonsik, of his eyes and lips and tongue and fangs and Hongbin was breathless from the passion behind the kiss. Everything else faded into the background.

 

Wonsik pulled away a few inches, lips still brushing against Hongbin’s, and the fairy gasped for breath. 

 

“I’ve realized I no longer have an apartment,” the vampire said, lips swollen and bitten red. “Do you know anyone looking for a roommate?”

 

Hongbin laughed breathlessly. Words were suddenly hard to put together. 

 

“I charge a high price,” he managed. His hands were still wrapped around the vampire’s neck. The lack of a pulse was slightly disconcerting. Hongbin’s heart raced and he felt like he could explode from the feelings crashing around in his chest.

 

Wonsik smiled, looking absolutely gorgeous against the backdrop of the glittering cityscape. “I’m sure we can come to an arrangement.”

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey hey guess whose back its ur resident big dumb Hongbin. Sorry for the late update I was at a got7 concert and actually died. Hope you enjoyed :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> update early bc im busy tomorrow... this ones twice the length of a normal chapter... oops

 

The sirens ripped through the silence and Hakyeon’s ears like a knife. These weren’t magical, not specifically designed to drop a vampire, but they were close enough and Hakyeon winced at the sudden cacophony. _Damn,_ he thought. _That’s what I get for being a nice person and not killing people. That fucking guard raised the alarm._ Shooting a quick text to Sanghyuk, he surveyed the situation. 

 

He couldn’t hear pounding footsteps yet and the elevators were the only way down to the basement labs, so he estimated he still had some time. Hakyeon edged around tables back to the elevators, searching for some way to buy a few more minutes. He still hadn’t found the weapon plans, and the heavy waves of magic pulsing throughout the whole base were giving him an inconvenient headache.

 

Beside the elevator doors was posted an _In Case Of Fire_ sign, showing a map of the base in black and white with a red line of escape cutting through. But that wasn’t what grabbed Hakyeon’s attention. A little asterisk rested next to the elevators, reading in small print _In the event of fire, please use the stairs. Elevators will shut down._ Hakyeon grinned. 

 

He didn’t have anything to set a fire, and he didn’t really want to add arson to his list of crimes, but the elevator wouldn’t know the difference. And a quick glance around the basement proved that Fae were as lax with their safety precautions as they were with their security; there weren’t any stairs leading into the room. With a smile all too happy for one about to exponentiate the chaos occurring floors above him, Hakyeon pulled the fire alarm. 

 

There was a moment of blessed silence as the computers attempted to calculate their way through layers of emergency protocol. Hakyeon wondered if an invading vampire or a fire took precedence. Then the sirens shifted from a steady wail to a more pulsing, high pitched shriek. Hakyeon decided he needed to invest in a pair of earplugs.

 

Rubbing his hands together, he turned back to the laboratory. There were only a couple tables he hadn’t yet searched.

 

The first one contained nothing of interest, just a few pens and a sticky note reading _Shelly’s a bitch_. Hakyeon appreciated that. The next one was more interesting; the second drawer down contained quite an interesting array of pornography. Hakyeon snickered and took out the stack of magazines, loosely tossing them around the table. Who said work couldn’t be fun.

 

The third and final table was pretty small, positioned in the back left corner of the room, and, when Hakyeon approached, hit him with the strongest wave of magic yet. The magic was a confused mess of different Fae; too many people had been in this room and Hakyeon couldn’t identify anything telling about the magic yet, just that it was too much and Hakyeon felt slightly sick.

 

The table’s desk was empty, but a quick search through its drawers revealed one thing. A white envelope rested in the small cabinet, addressed to simply _Hakyeon,_ written in messy print. And even without picking it up, even without almost falling back with the force of the magic imprint left on the paper, even without the sea breeze that wafted through nonexistent windows and left salt on his lips, Hakyeon would have known who’d left that letter for him. (Everything fell into place; the familiarity with which the magic traces had moved about him in the forest, the odd feeling they gave him.)

 

 _The moon bleeds tonight,_ it read, and the letter punched Hakyeon’s breath out of him as the handwritten words threw him into his memories, the sirens fading to a distant whine in the back of his mind.

 

~~~

 

The scene was not the same. Hakyeon stood alone, alone under a red moon in the punctured darkness of New York, wet streets painted with streaks of light. But Hakyeon didn’t see any of this, because he had just woken up against the rough brick wall of an alleyway behind a club, blood on his lips and his neck and under his fingernails, and he found that it wasn’t enough. Somehow the feeling of iron on his tongue wasn’t as distasteful as it had been before. (Before? Before what? That didn’t matter anymore.) Hakyeon realized that he could see just fine in the dark, and that was a good thing, because he needed to find someone. He needed to find someone because he needed to eat, he needed to feel warm blood on his tongue and he needed to have it _now._

 

(If Hakyeon had waited a little longer, NYSA would have found him and given him a very nice speech about accepting himself as a vampire, but NYSA weren’t as fast in 1932 as they were now, what with the invention of telephones and all, and so Hakyeon did not get the luxury Wonsik did.)

 

Hakyeon remembered the biting September air that autumn; it had been unexpectedly cold, but Hakyeon somehow didn’t feel it as he prowled the streets for an unsuspecting victim. And he found it in a tall, well dressed man with slightly longer pale hair. The man felt strange to Hakyeon (sparkly, if he had to name it), but he was a baby vampire, still unaware of the existence of other magical creatures, and so the tiny sparks of magic fell without a sound beneath his bloodlust as his hand shot out and dragged the surprised man into the darkness.

 

Taekwoon, for that was who it had been, was not the easy prey Hakyeon had been expecting. Which was quite rude really, because he was _starving_ and this slim, unfairly pretty man had gotten him all hopeful for nothing. Taekwoon had no sooner been pulled into the alleyway then he had Hakyeon pressed against the side of the building, hands pressed against his shoulders and blue-tinted magic holding the vampire’s wrists beside his head. 

 

Hakyeon hissed through his new fangs, lips curled savagely. His pupils were dilated to the point where Taekwoon could barely see the iris. 

 

“Blood,” baby vampire Hakyeon snarled, teeth snapping and neck straining against Taekwoon’s firm hold. (Which he was frankly still embarrassed about now because Hakyeon hated being stereotypical.)

 

Taekwoon increased pressure on his shoulders, forcing Hakyeon’s fangs further from his neck. The vampire kept struggling, muttering an endless stream of _blood, I need blood_ in a low voice.

 

“Shhh…” Taekwoon murmured, extending a tendril of magic into Hakyeon’s unprotected mind and pressing a few switches. The vampire calmed down, breath coming fast and eyes flickering wildly. (This trick hadn’t been explained to Hakyeon until some years later, and since then he’d kept an impenetrable mental ward up at all times.) He relaxed slightly in the fairy’s hold.

 

“What… what’s happening,” Hakyeon said, eyes wide, flexing his wrists in Taekwoon’s magic binds. “Why do you smell like that?”

 

This was all new to Hakyeon, who up until now hadn’t believed in anything vaguely satanic and suddenly found himself lusting for the blood of innocents (although the pastor at his church had tried to exorcise the homosexuality from him, so part of him was currently wondering if all gay people were secretly vampires). This was also new for Taekwoon, who had lived all of 56 years and was by all standards an adolescent fairy, and he now found himself dealing with a bloodthirsty vampire.

 

(Both Hakyeon and Taekwoon later came to the conclusion that the 30’s had just been a strange time for everyone.)

 

“I probably smell like blood,” Taekwoon answered hesitantly, because he wasn’t quite sure if it was a good idea to advertise that to a vampire in Hakyeon’s situation.

 

“Can I- can I have some…?” Hakyeon asked, stuttering slightly over the question and to be honest he didn’t know why he even expected the fairy to say yes to a question like that. Hakyeon was a spontaneous person. Taekwoon choked slightly. “Please,” Hakyeon said desperately. “I’m just _so hungry._ ”

 

And Taekwoon was loathe to admit it, but the vampire was gorgeous, pressed against the wall, blue magic and the red moon enhancing his sharp cheekbones and dark eyes, made all the darker in death and lust. He never told Hakyeon what made him say yes, what made him drop the magic cuffing the vampire’s wrists and offer his arm, but maybe it had something to do with the moon. Because the moon was his goddess and the red had to mean something.

 

Regardless, Hakyeon was happy to take the proffered arm. In his bloodlust he failed to appreciate the physical beauty of the fairy’s slim wrist, but the feeling of his fangs piercing the pale skin, the taste of Taekwoon’s warm blood spilling into his mouth and coating his lips and tongue remained with him for a long time afterwards. A NYSA official told him it was normal, to feel that way about your first feeding, but Hakyeon wasn’t so sure. 

 

The two immortals stayed like that for a while, the vampire’s back against the wall and mouth against the fairy’s wrist, Taekwoon arched over him with a hand against the brick, until he felt his legs go weak and he grabbed Hakyeon’s neck.

 

“Stop,” Taekwoon breathed, pulling slightly at the back of the vampire’s head with his free hand, feeling dizziness approaching. (He wasn’t sure what Fae blood would do to a vampire.)

 

Hakyeon’s lips remained at his wrist, tongue lapping at the puncture wounds. Taekwoon would never admit that it felt good. Just a little bit.

 

Taekwoon tangled his fingers into the vampire’s hair and yanked his head backwards, forcibly pulling him off his wrist. “I said stop,” he hissed.

 

Hakyeon flashed a guilty smile, and he looked different now, lips painted red and eyes lighter now that the crazed bloodlust had passed. He leaned back against the wall, long neck arching prettily in the pinkish light and Taekwoon wasn’t a vampire in the slightest so why was that so attractive?

 

“Sorry,” Hakyeon said. His voice had also changed. He didn’t sound quite so insane anymore. He didn’t feel quite so insane anymore. His thoughts had settled in his head, moved on from the chaotic scramble of blood and light and sound and people to rest on the pretty fairy standing in front of him, blood staining his pale wrist like a gruesome flower. Hakyeon eyed the splash of blood. A water lily, some part of him thought.

 

The two looked at each other in silence. Neither quite knew what to do in this situation. Hakyeon had just been turned and didn’t even know what a fairy was, and Taekwoon in general didn’t know what to do around pretty boys with blood-stained lips.

 

“I’m Hakyeon,” Hakyeon said. It seemed like a good way to start. “I apologize for the… abduction.” He gave a tentative laugh. “I’m not really sure why I want to drink your blood? Everything’s been a little hazy…”

 

Taekwoon sighed. “You’re a vampire. Someone killed you and turned you, and then left you on the streets." He wrinkled his nose. "Bad form." Hakyeon slumped against the bricks and dragged the back of his hand over his lips, but only succeeded in smearing streaks of red across his face. _That bastard,_ he thought. _He’d said his car was parked out back. He fucking killed me._

 

Hakyeon could deal with that, he supposed. If the things he knew about vampires were true, he was immortal now, which seemed pretty sweet. The blood drinking thing, less so, but if all blood tasted like this man’s, he’d be 100% ok with it. He licked his lips.

 

“I’m Taekwoon,” Taekwoon said. “Fae. I hope my blood doesn’t make you sick.”

 

 _What the fuck. Fae? Is that the same as a fairy? What next, werewolves? He talks like he’s a million years old._ But the fairy obviously didn’t have time to answer all his questions because he was already turning away from Hakyeon. He turned his face towards the night sky, in which only the moon was visible because of the light pollution from the city.

 

“The moon bleeds tonight,” he said, face upturned. Hakyeon disguised his snort of laughter as a cough. What a very Fae thing to say. He had a way of speaking that made the simplest sentences sound otherworldly. (Old fashioned, Hakyeon’s brain provided, but the man in front of him didn't look a day over twenty-five.) The light splashed against Taekwoon’s face and into his eyes, and now that Hakyeon knew he was a fairy it made all the more sense. There was no way a man like this happened without the aid of magic somewhere in the process. He realized the pressure in the air hadn’t been from the bloodlust but from the weight of magic, and Taekwoon’s felt like the sea.

 

(Hakyeon hadn’t ever been to the sea, and he never got the chance because a few short years later he got caught up in the entanglement of the war, but he didn’t think it could ever match up with the vastness of the power Taekwoon carried with him.)

 

Hakyeon turned his face to the sky as well, but he wasn’t thinking about the moon.

 

He was thinking about the taste of iron on his tongue and the fangs in his mouth and the strength in his body. He was thinking about the otherworldly stillness in his chest that came from having no heartbeat. He was thinking about the unexpectedly cool September it had been, and all the Septembers he would see in the future. The weight of eternity settled onto his static heart, and he decided that it wasn’t a bad one.

 

Hakyeon chanced a glance at the fairy next to him, pale skin tinted red in the faint light of the moon. Immortality was a good look on him. Hakyeon smiled and ran his tongue over sharpened canines, the bite of fangs into his lips already familiar.

 

~~~

 

Taekwoon mentally cursed Hakyeon. The fire alarms had been a stroke of inconvenient genius, and he’d had to wait for a technician to come and magically restart them, because apparently someone had decided that _stairs_ weren’t fucking necessary. An understanding of the job one wanted magic to do was required for it to work successfully. Magic, contrary to popular belief, could not work miracles. ( _No, we cannot just pry them open, Commander Jung,_ one of the Lieutenant commanders had said. _Those were expensive and we are on a military budget._ Taekwoon had wanted to tell the lieutenant that he _wrote_ the military budget. Well, it was technically Jaehwan, but the fairy wasn’t there right then.)

 

The wait was made all the worse for the knowledge that Hakyeon was within his grasp. The vampire was a just a few floors down, closer than they’d been since, oh, Taekwoon couldn’t remember. They certainly hadn’t run into each other during the 21st century at least, he has sure of it.

 

Taekwoon winced again as the sirens somehow seemed to increase in volume. 

 

“Turn those goddamn sirens off,” he called to anyone in the general vicinity. “Everyone knows there’s a vampire in the building.” 

 

He needed to buy some earplugs.

 

A burst of sparks. The sound of metal scraping along metal pierced Taekwoon’s sensitive Fae ears. The down arrow above the elevator dinged and the doors finally opened. Finally. The plan could continue.

 

Jaehwan, who had been hovering at the outskirts of the action now stepped to Taekwoon’s side. He leaned in.

 

“Boss, there’s a problem I need to deal with outside the base. Can you handle Cha on your own?” he asked in a low voice.

 

Taekwoon nodded, gesturing for Jaehwan to go. “Yes, I got him. What’s the problem?”

 

Jaehwan shrugged his shoulders. “Not a big one, I promise.”

 

“Fine.” Taekwoon had enough of his own to worry about.

 

“Go get ‘em, Boss,” Jaehwan grinned, shooting Taekwoon finger guns. He hopped out of the elevator with toothy grin worthy of a vampire, pressing the Basement button on his way out.

 

Taekwoon flipped him off as the doors slid haltingly shut.

 

No guards were coming with him. This was a private conversation, and Taekwoon could handle himself anyway. It was best not to antagonize Hakyeon with the presence of more people. Although, Taekwoon knew how much the vampire enjoyed a show. Both performing and watching.

 

All too quickly, the automated female voice announced the basement accompanied by a quiet ding, and Taekwoon realized that he was not mentally prepared to see the vampire. The elevator doors slid open without a passing regard to his mental state.

 

And there was Hakyeon. Long legs crossed, boots on top of the desk, chair tilted back in a show of nonchalance. The desk he occupied was the only one in the center of the room; all other desks had been pushed to the edges. Taekwoon inwardly scoffed at the vampire’s dramatics.

 

Hakyeon didn’t look up at Taekwoon’s entrance, boots ringing on the tiled floor, elevator doors sliding closed again with a screeching metallic clang. His dark hair fell attractively across his face. 

 

So quickly Taekwoon almost didn’t see it, Hakyeon’s hand slipped to his waist and a shining knife streaked towards Taekwoon, flashing end over end until it embedded itself into the elevator button behind him. No one else had intended to come down, but Hakyeon had just ensured that. One of the overhead lights flickered out.

 

“You should get that fixed.”

 

Taekwoon made his way into the ring of tables.

 

“The elevators? Or the lights?”

 

Hakyeon dropped his chair to the ground with a crack, legs swinging off the table to cross in front of him.

 

“Whichever you have enough money for,” he said, smile as sharp as the knife he just threw. 

 

Taekwoon raised an eyebrow. “You could hear us from down here?” And he knew vampires had exceptional hearing, but he hadn’t known it was good enough to extend through two levels of metal and steel.

 

Hakyeon smiled again, that secret smile of his that never reached his eyes and showed a little too many teeth. He didn’t say anything.

 

Taekwoon stopped a few feet away from the vampire, the lone desk between them. Hakyeon leaned back in his chair. Neither spoke for a few seconds, sizing each other up. _Would this be one of the nice encounters,_ Taekwoon wondered. It was early yet, and hard to tell.

 

Hakyeon broke first. Taekwoon was better with silences. “You trapped me,” he said, tossing his arms in the air and sarcastically waving them a bit, looking for all the world like a man who was decidedly _not_ trapped _._ “Congratulations.”

 

Taekwoon snapped his fingers, the sound echoing around the room, and a chair similar to Hakyeon’s appeared beside him. It was a show of power, not dissimilar to Hakyeon’s knife quivering in the wall behind him. He took a seat. The desk was the only thing separating them.

 

“I asked you here for a reason,” Taekwoon began, and then instantly regretted his word choice, hoping Hakyeon wouldn’t catch it. 

 

But Hakyeon was sharp and cunning and caught everything. _“Asked_ ?” he said, scathingly. “I wouldn’t call this asked, Taekwoon. I can, however, _ask_ you to give me the weapon plans, please and thank you.”

 

Taekwoon shook his head, eyes falling to the opened envelope on the desk. _The moon bleeds tonight._ (It had been a dumb thing to say, in hindsight, very old-timey of him. But the phrase still brought with it a cool snap of September breeze, the scent of blood in the air, red decorating the sky and the streets and his wrist. Vampires had a venom in their fangs, he later learned, that made the bite less painful. And it had certainly worked that night. He sometimes thought about the feeling of Hakyeon’s lips on his skin, the bite of his fangs. He still had two silvery marks on the inside of his wrist, concealed with a silver bracelet. He’d caught Hakyeon eyeing it during the rare times they’d run into each other.)

 

“The weapon plans were a lie, Hakyeon, but-”

 

“No.” Hakyeon stood up so fast his chair rocked backwards. “They can’t be.” He ran his fingers through his hair in what looked like a painfully rough manner.

 

“I needed to speak with you, please listen to me,” Taekwoon tried again, but Hakyeon didn’t appear to be listening. He was pacing behind the desk, radiating anger and something else. Something more akin to desperation.

 

He was muttering words under his breath. Taekwoon strained to hear. “...the Parliament… give them something… don’t trust me… anything…”

 

Hakyeon paced back and forth like a caged tiger and Taekwoon’s patience was running thin. Hakyeon’s pacing stressed him out. With a deep breath, the fairy reached down into his magic and released a burst of energy, loathe to use magic on the vampire but needing him to listen.

 

The magic hit Hakyeon like a wave, crashing over him and bringing his pacing to a sudden halt.

 

“Stop, and _listen_ ,” Taekwoon said, each word carrying the full weight of his magic behind it.

 

He could see the vampire vibrating with rage, but honestly, he’d thrown a knife at Taekwoon first. Fair was fair. Hakyeon obnoxiously scraped his chair against the floor before sitting down again, eyes bright with anger and lips pressed together.

 

Taekwoon made an aborted motion to reach for the vampire, running his hand through his hair awkwardly instead. He groaned small sound of annoyance.

 

As usual, Hakyeon didn’t give him a chance to collect his thoughts.

 

“I’m listening, Commander,” he said. Taekwoon winced at the title. Hakyeon was pissed.

 

“Look, I have a plan and I needed your help-”

 

“And you couldn’t have just, I don’t know, sent me a quick text?”

 

“No, there are people watching me and you, you know tha-”

 

“Then I don’t know, tell Jaehwan to tell Sanghyuk to tell me-” 

 

The conversation was very quickly devolving.

 

“I couldn’t do that, Hakyeon! The Parliament has to-”

 

“-because they’re fucking, you know-”

 

“-the Parliament has-”

 

“And they think we don’t know but we totally do, they’re really not sneaky, I see them-”

 

“I want to kill the Parliament!”

 

Silence. 

 

A few minutes of it, actually.

 

(Taekwoon was starting to get worried. Was Hakyeon ok?)

 

(Hakyeon was ok, it was just taking him a while to process the information Taekwoon just dropped on him.)

 

Hakyeon met Taekwoon’s eyes slowly. Very carefully, he repeated “You want to kill the Parliament.”

 

Taekwoon nodded.

 

“Like, the _vampire_ Parliament _,_ not the British or Australian Parliament.”

 

Taekwoon nodded again. “That’s the plan, yes.”

 

“Because I think it’d be much easier to kill the Australian Parliament rather than the vampire one.” Taekwoon opened his mouth to further explain, but Hakyeon wasn’t done. “Or no, maybe the British one would be easier,” he mused. “Australia has all those spiders, you know?”

 

“Can you not treat this like a joke, please?” Taekwoon snapped.

 

Hakyeon laughed incredulously. “Not treat this like a joke? Are you serious? This whole thing is a joke! And it’s going to get the both of us killed!” 

 

“No, it wont, because I have a plan,” Taekwoon started, before he was interrupted yet again.

 

“Taekwoon, you are talking about _treason_ for me,” Hakyeon whispered, glancing furtively around like a Parliamentarian would pop up from behind a table, even though they were alone and he had broken the elevators. (For the second time.)

 

Taekwoon winced a little. This would be the hard part, convincing Hakyeon to help him. It wasn’t even that the vampire loved his kind. The Parliament carried enough weight that no one wanted to cross them.

 

“I could be literally _burned alive_ for this, don’t you understand, you dumb fairy? You can’t kill the Parliament, no one can kill the Parliament,” Hakyeon hissed, every part of his body tensed.

 

“I know,” Taekwoon said, placatingly, “But I have a plan, if you would listen-”

 

Hakyeon slammed his hand onto the desk. “As far as I’m aware, you have jack shit right now, Taekwoon. And I am not going to kill myself doing one of your half baked ideas.”

 

“A PLAN,” Taekwoon said loudly.

 

“I refuse to die because you were conceited enough to think you could stop the war that’s been continuing for centuries-” 

 

“Hakyeon, the war needs to end.” Taekwoon didn’t understand why Hakyeon was so against this.

 

“I know! But why are we the ones that have to end it? What can we do that hasn’t been done already?”

 

Hakyeon was fingering the hilt of his knife, the one Taekwoon knew had water lilies engraved into it, like he did when he was nervous. (And he wasn’t willing to unpack what that meant, that he knew enough about the vampire to recognize his nervous habits.)

 

“Because we’re the only ones who can, don’t you see? The Parliament is the only thing preventing us from ending it right now,” Taekwoon said.

 

Hakyeon smirked. “Because your queen is catatonic?” he said wryly.

 

Taekwoon sputtered. “No, I mean yeah, but that’s not my point right now, my point is that the Parliament needs to go.”

 

Hakyeon shrugged. “You want them gone, I want them gone, every supernatural within a hundred miles wants the Parliament dead. They’re hundreds of years old, Taek. They can just look at me and I want to run the other way. What can we do?”

 

Taking a breath, Taekwoon said, “So, hypothetically, you would be up for taking out the Parliament?”

 

Hakyeon shrugged again, inspecting his cuticles like he hadn’t been pulling out his hair five minutes ago. “Yeah,” he said. “Sure.”

 

“The weapon plans weren’t completely falsified.” The vampire froze.

 

“What?” 

 

“You probably heard that the weapon would be an area-effect weapon meant to take out whole battlefields, yes?”

 

Hakyeon nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s what Sanghyuk came back with.”

 

“That’s not true. There is going to be a weapon, but it’s going to be one a subtle one. It’s going to kill only a few people.”

 

“Six,” Hakyeon breathed. An echo of a smile passed across his face. A more real smile than anything Taekwoon had seen so far. And the feeling of revealing a plan, weeks and months in the making, was a feeling of which Taekwoon never tired.

 

“We have Lee Hongbin working on it right now. It’s practically done.”

 

“Does it have a name?” Hakyeon asked, “Or are we just calling it The Weapon.”

 

“Bàs Draoidheachd.” Taekwoon made a guttural choking sound deep in his throat.

 

Hakyeon looked at him. “I’m sorry?”

 

Taekwoon sighed. “I literally can’t say it again. Hongbin thinks he’s being funny.”

 

Hakyeon snickered a little. “No, he is. Your face every time you have to say that is priceless.”

 

Taekwoon glared at the vampire. 

 

“So what’s the plan, partner?” Hakyeon asked, settling more into his chair, and he had done a complete 180 from the beginning of their encounter. He stretched out his long body like a cat. Taekwoon never got used to his ephemeral moods. 

 

Hakyeon, Taekwoon had come to learn, was not someone you got used to. Hakyeon was a force of nature, something you weathered until it wore you down and spun you around like a tree in a hurricane. But, continuing the metaphor, once you got to the eye of the storm, it wasn’t so bad. 

 

~~~

 

 

Sanghyuk decided he hated the fucking forest with its fucking fairies and their fucking base that he couldn’t _fucking_ find. Because Hakyeon had told him to go in after him if he didn’t come out within 3 hours or if the sirens went off, and it hadn’t been three hours yet but Hakyeon had sent him a text simply reading _sirens,_ and that meant he had to come help Hakyeon, right? But he didn’t even know where the base was. Hakyeon had those fancy glasses that could see magic and shit but Sanghyuk didn’t, meaning he was going about this the old fashioned way and that meant hours of traipsing through the woods. And he was feeling extraordinarily stressed right now and really, he was much too young for this, why didn’t the military fucking ask for a GED at _least,_ how can your standards be that low, and what the fuck why was that playground glowing.

 

Walking closer, Sanghyuk realized it wasn’t the playground that was glowing but the equipment shed at the corner of it. And the door opened, slowly, like they do in those horror movies Sanghyuk loved and Hakyeon hated. Sanghyuk decided he didn’t want to be in plain sight when whatever was behind the door walked through it. He took refuge behind the swing set.

 

The crack of blue light expanded to a large rectangle of light, and a group of five fairies stepped through, wings out and fluttering behind their backs. They spread out, three on one side of the door and two on the other, and Sanghyuk realized they were waiting for the last member of the party.

 

Then Lee Jaehwan stood, haloed in the blue light like some kind of god, wings shimmering a pale green, fingertips sparking with magic, and Sanghyuk swore he’d never felt anything as deeply as that image.

 

And then he realized the fairies had been sent to search for him and he cursed Jaehwan’s name. He must have tripped some magic alarm somewhere in the goddamn forest. He hated the forest, did he mention that? 

 

Jaehwan and his fairy squad were having a discussion. Sanghyuk could only capture bits and pieces, because vampires had better hearing than most but they weren’t that good. Hakyeon was just on another level, somehow.

 

“...alarm in section 13… I’ll stay here… in case Taekwoon needs… Hakyeon’s always trouble…” That was Jaehwan’s voice, he was sure of it. Slightly whiny, even when giving orders.

 

The fairies nodded and saluted then took to the sky, wings fluttering so quickly they were invisible. Sanghyuk ducked out of sight.

 

“Han Sanghyuk,” came Jaehwan’s voice from somewhere frighteningly nearby. “What are you doing in my forest?”

 

Sanghyuk could hear the smile in his voice, even if he couldn’t see him. That’s the way it was with Jaehwan, always smiling. He could murder with a smile, that fairy. (Probably had.)

 

Sanghyuk stepped out from behind the swings. No point in hiding now. Jaehwan stood on the other side of the vacant sandbox. He offered the fairy what he hoped resembled an innocent smile.

 

“I’m on vacation,” he explained. “Camping trip.”

 

“Alone?” Jaehwan asked. Sanghyuk just had to keep him talking so Hakyeon could find a way to escape. Jaehwan being out here meant no Jaehwan inside giving orders to soldiers.

 

“Not alone. You’re here now.” Sanghyuk grinned, showing a bit of fang.

 

Jaehwan took another step forward, the sandbox the only thing separating the two tense immortals. His fingertips still sparked, gently popping in the air. Sanghyuk waited with bated breath, legs tensed and hand on the hilt of his long knife. (Decidedly not engraved with any flowers. He had better taste than Hakyeon.)

 

Jaehwan’s sharp-toothed smile encouraged him to ease the knife from its sheath. He held it lightly by his side, eyes flitting between Jaehwan and his hands and his wings. His eyes narrowed to slits.

 

With a burst of vampiric speed, Sanghyuk suddenly threw himself into motion, clearing the sandbox in one leap and lunging at the fairy, knife extended in his right hand. Jaehwan leaped back at the last second, eyes widening in surprise, but not before Sanghyuk sliced a shallow cut down the side of his arm. Blood welled at the edges of his torn sleeve.

 

He whipped around to face the vampire, shock staining his face. “You cut me,” he said, eyes wide and mouth open. “You actually cut me.”

 

Sanghyuk casually flipped his knife into a throwing position and pointed it at Jaehwan.

 

“I’ll do it again,” he said, “If you don’t release Hakyeon right now.”

 

Jaehwan fell into a defensive position, mint colored magic spreading across his arms to form a shield of sorts in front of his chest and face. Next to him, a bush withered and died.

 

(That was the thing about magic. It wasn’t _really_ magic. You can’t conjure something from nothing, and you can’t make nothing into something without something turning into nothing. The law of conservation of energy, you know? Magic dealt not with the creation of energy, but the transfer of it. All the energy that the unfortunate bush had in its leaves and roots and stems was now in Jaehwan’s hands, molded into a shield against Sanghyuk’s knife. In most cases, Fae drew magic from themselves, but in such a lively place as a forest, Jaehwan took full advantage of the plants. Sanghyuk was sure there was a lesson in there somewhere but he had bigger problems to deal with than one dead bush.)

 

The scent of Jaehwan’s blood somehow still reached Sanghyuk’s nose, through the magic shield and the space between them. He cursed his stupid vampire senses for reacting to it, to the scent of iron and salt and somewhere a touch of mint. He gave his knife one last flip and then sent it straight towards Jaehwan.

 

Not into the shield, because the knife would never puncture that, but right past the fairy’s left ear. In Jaehwan’s distraction, Sanghyuk took another knife from his belt and sent it shooting past his other ear. Neither knife connected, but they hadn’t been meant to. Sanghyuk didn’t want to hurt Jaehwan, just scare him a little. And each knife zipping by drew out a little gasp from the fairy. He probably thought Sanghyuk couldn’t hear them. (In all honesty, the whole fight was a little half-hearted. Sanghyuk much preferred dancing with Jaehwan than fighting.)

 

Jaehwan finished ducking out of the second knife’s path, eyes bright with excitement and adrenaline and a little bit of irritation. (Sanghyuk didn’t normally draw blood.) His shield dropped. And Sanghyuk realized, as his hand went to his waist, that he didn’t have any more knives. That’s what he got for not planning ahead. (Hakyeon would have brought more knives.)

 

“Having performance issues, my fangy friend?” Jaehwan asked, smile as sharp as the knives Sanghyuk had just sent zipping by his ears.

 

Sanghyuk shuffled back a step, hands raised defensively in front of him. He watched as his knives, embedded in the trees and dirt behind Jaehwan, shakingly rose from their positions and hovered behind the fairy, glowing a faint pale green. Sanghyuk realized the smell of mint had permeated much of the forest around them. 

 

Jaehwan grinned like a cheshire cat, his smile containing too many teeth that looked much to sharp to be reasonable. A pulsing ball of energy formed in his hand, about the size of a baseball, casting an eerie green glow onto his face.

 

“Let’s dance.”

 

With a flick of his wrist, Sanghyuk’s knives came screaming through the air like bullets. The magic baseball of energy shot from Jaehwan’s hand, rocketing straight for the vampire’s head. Jaehwan himself just stood there, tendrils of mint green magic snaking through his hands and around his arms and legs, looking fairly inhuman. His irises were ringed with green and a circle of grass withered around his feet. ( _And the world shook with the force of dust and starlight._ )

 

Sanghyuk made the smart decision. He turned and vamp sped out of the playground, heading for a clearing in the mostly abandoned forest he’d found during his hunt for the base. A knife embedded itself in a tree next to his face. Sanghyuk cursed and changed directions. Hopefully he wasn’t headed towards wherever District 13 was that the rest of the Fae squad had been sent to investigate. He didn’t think he could deal with more than one angry fairy.

 

He could hear the crackle of the magic baseball close on his tail, as well as the buzz of Jaehwan’s wings as the fairy tried to make his way through the densely packed trees.

 

He had just zipped into a clearing when a root appeared out of nowhere and sent Sanghyuk tumbling to the ground. The root in question smelled strongly of mint. Sitting up slowly, Sanghyuk cursed the fairy and his stupid plant magic.

 

But he couldn’t shake off the dizziness fast enough, and before he knew it he was on his back in the dirt again, wrists anchored above his head and body pinned to the ground by the fairy sitting on his chest.

 

Sanghyuk struggled in Jaehwan’s hold, yanking at his wrists. “What are you doing to Hakyeon?” he hissed, trying as hard as he could to focus on escaping rather than the pretty man sitting on his stomach.

 

“Nothing he doesn’t want to happen,” Jaehwan reassured, leaving his wrists held to the ground with a tendril of magic and resting his free hands on his chest. The fairy lowered his mouth to Sanghyuk’s ear.

 

“The real question is, what do you want, Han Sanghyuk?” he whispered, voice low.

 

And right now, Sanghyuk wanted to die from mortification, because the blood on Jaehwan’s arm had dried but the scent of it remained on his skin, and he wanted to lick it off the fairy but he also wanted to save Hakyeon. (He doubted Jaehwan was lying to him; he was beginning to suspect that this whole thing had been a ploy to trap Hakyeon, and he didn’t think Taekwoon would actually try to harm the captain. The two had history together, Sanghyuk was sure of it.) So he supposed he didn’t want to save Hakyeon right now, but his mind was running away from him.

 

“I don’t know what I want,” Sanghyuk managed through dry lips, and that was a lie. 

 

Well, it was half true. Sanghyuk wanted a multitude of things. He wanted some of Hakyeon’s weird blood sausage ramen, he wanted a shower, he wanted to get out of the fucking forest. Sanghyuk wanted so many things all at once that it was a relief to just want Jaehwan sometimes.

 

Because right now, Sanghyuk wanted Jaehwan. He wanted him so much it overruled everything else in his mind and in his heart and his blood. He wanted to roll over and pin the fairy to the ground. He wanted to put his lips to his neck and press fanged kisses into his skin until Jaehwan could do nothing but beg him to continue. He wanted to lick the blood off the fairy and wanted to taste the mint of his magic on his tongue. He wanted Jaehwan to want him, too.

 

“I think you do,” Jaehwan said, and he was so close Sanghyuk could make out each individual eyelash and his lips brushed Sanghyuk’s when he spoke.

 

Sanghyuk wanted to touch him, but his wrists were still held above his head and he couldn’t move in the slightest, but somehow he knew that if he had wanted to get up and leave, the magic wouldn’t have stopped him. Jaehwan wouldn’t have stopped him.

 

But he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to kiss the beautiful fairy sitting on his chest, glowing with power and desire. 

 

So he did. He lifted his head those last few centimeters and pressed his lips against Jaehwan’s, and they had kissed before, many, many times, in hotel rooms and apartments and alleys, but this one felt different. It felt more, somehow. Sanghyuk couldn’t explain it. (Jaehwan, overdramatic as hell, said it tasted like fate. Sanghyuk had scoffed at that. _How do you know what fate tastes like,_ he said. Jaehwan had just smiled. Later, in the secure darkness of his bedroom, Sanghyuk supposed that fate must taste like mint.)

 

The two immortals returned, hair mussed with dirt and leaves, to find the squadron of fairies standing at attention by the entrance to the base. No comments were made, but many knowing glances were exchanged.

 

Sanghyuk sighed. What a rescue mission. Hakyeon would never let him live this down.

 

~~~

 

 

Three days later, Hakyeon found himself sitting around a table with the unlikeliest of allies. Beside him sat Sanghyuk, in probably the only formal outfit he owned, flipping a pen between his fingers. He very obviously wasn’t paying attention to the conversation at hand. His eyes were glued to the fairy sitting across from him. Hakyeon suspected it had something to do with the fairy’s newly dyed black hair.

 

Next to Jaehwan was an empty seat, and then Lee Hongbin. Standing behind Hongbin in the shadowy corner of the room was a vampire Hakyeon didn’t recognize. He had introduced himself as Kim Wonsik, and his eyes never strayed too far from Hongbin.

 

The room itself was your typical conference room, grey walls and grey carpet, vaguely modern paintings that were trying too hard on the walls and large window showing the city beneath. It had been hell trying to convince to the Fae guards that yes, the Captain of Espionage Corps was meant to be in their building. Fortunately, Jaehwan had arrived just in time to explain the situation. 

 

Taekwoon wasn’t there, which was why the meeting had yet to start. There was a quiet buzz of conversation amongst the two fairies and mystery vampire, who Hakyeon could tell was very young. Sanghyuk met Hakyeon’s eyes with a raised eyebrow.

 

 _Where is he,_ he mouthed.

 

Hakyeon shrugged. He eavesdropped a little into Hongbin and Wonsik’s conversation, but before he could hear anything, Hongbin stopped talking, eyes narrowed into slits. He glared at Hakyeon until the vampire smiled and turned away again. The two’s conversation resumed. _Hongbin’s scary,_ Hakyeon decided. _Weird scary scientist._

 

He switched his attention to Sanghyuk and Jaehwan, who didn’t appear to be saying anything but were exchanging emotional glances from across the table. Hakyeon rolled his eyes.

 

Then the door opened and Taekwoon stepped into the room. He closed it with a quiet click.

 

“Sorry,” he said. “The guards were asking me about the sudden increase in vampires in the building.” He turned to glare at Jaehwan.

 

A slow smile spread across Jaehwan’s face.

 

“Do you know what they told me, Jaehwan?”

 

Jaehwan shook his head, eyes widened innocently. “Not a clue, boss.”

 

Hakyeon remembered Jaehwan’s suspicious whispering to the guards when he’d come to pick them up, and then the weird glances tossed their way.

 

Taekwoon spoke through gritted teeth. “They told me to be careful during my hot vampire foursome.” Jaehwan wilted a little under his commander’s burning gaze.

 

Hongbin tried to hide his laugh in a cough, elegant hand over his mouth, but Hakyeon could see the laughter in his eyes. 

 

Hakyeon laughed out loud. He felt the glare Taekwoon sent his way.

 

Jaehwan squeaked as Taekwoon’s hand attacked his neck.

 

“I’d never sleep with Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon said, patting his second’s head. He looked meaningfully at Taekwoon. _You, on the other hand…_

 

Taekwoon blushed a little, then coughed awkwardly and took his seat. 

 

“Right, well, we need to have this meeting, please.”

 

 “Of course,” Hakyeon said, settling back into his seat. Sanghyuk pulled his eyes from Jaehwan and picked up his pen again. Hakyeon realized he had a new bracelet. Mint green.

 

Taekwoon clapped his hands together. “Everyone in this room is sworn to secrecy.” Nods all around. “The mission we are about to begin must remain uncompromised. I don’t really know why Wonsik is here, but as long as you promise not to tell anyone…?” He glanced at the vampire questioningly.

 

Wonsik nodded quickly. “Right. Yeah. Of course not.” 

 

Hongbin leaned forward. “He’s here because he’s my assistant.”

 

Hakyeon highly doubted Wonsik had any training in science.

 

“Ok then, now that that’s out of the way, I’m going to explain the plan,” Taekwoon said, eyes glittering. The commander’s excitement was tangible. 

 

“We have all agreed that this war must end. It’s been going on for much too long, and it has accomplished nothing. The best way, as I see it, would be to take out the Parliament.”

 

He sorted through some papers in his hand. “The Parliament has six members, each one over five hundred years old, with unknown levels of power and expertise. Fortunately, we have Captain Cha, who will run some reconnaissance on the abilities of such old vampires.”

 

Hakyeon nodded. Knowledge like that wasn’t easy to find, as the Parliament didn’t like to advertise how they might be killed, but that was what libraries were for. He hoped his card was still valid… 

 

“Additionally, we have Dr. Lee, who has been working on a weapon designed to bring down vampires of any age.” Hongbin smiled at the title.

 

“Dr. Lee?” Taekwoon gestured for Hongbin to continue the explanation.

 

“As the Commander has said, I’ve been creating a magically enhanced biological weapon designed to take out the Parliament specifically.” His voice was cool and professional, fitting what Hakyeon had seen of him so far. “It was sort of a shot in the dark, as I don’t have full knowledge of their capabilities, but theoretically it should work regardless of age.” The scientist stood up, pushing back his sleeves.

 

“Vampires,” he said, hands glowing a faint lilac, “run on magic.” A pale purple figure took shape beside him, the vague image of a human. Magic coursed in streams through the figure’s arms and legs, animating it through some simple motions. It raised a hand and waved as the scent of lavender permeated the air. “Your hearts don’t beat, your bodies are dead.” Hakyeon felt vaguely uncomfortable at the description of himself.

 

Hongbin continued. “I asked myself, why did you need to drink blood? And I figured out that all beings have magic, and in drinking blood you absorb that magic, thus fueling your dead body.” Here he paused for a second, letting everything sink in. “So,” he said, “what happens if we cut off the magic?”

 

He snapped his fingers, purple sparks flying. The magic flowing through the figure stuttered to a stop, curling into itself and disappearing. The figure remained frozen for a few short seconds, and then began degrading, limbs detaching and falling to the ground where they burst apart in puffs of lilac smoke. Sanghyuk looked a little sick.

 

Wonsik stepped forward, lightly resting a hand on Hongbin’s shoulder. “They get the picture,” he murmured.

 

Hongbin stepped back, figure vanishing and sparks melting back into his skin. “You would revert back to your dead state of being.” _Definitely scary,_ Hakyeon decided. _Do not want to mess with that fairy._

 

He took out a small pill bottle from his jacket pocket and gave it a little shake. “May I present to everyone, bàs draoidheachd.”

 

Jaehwan laughed in astonishment. “I am _never_ saying that word in my life.” Hakyeon mentally agreed.

 

Hongbin sighed. “It’s in Gaelic. Means the death of magic,” he muttered. “Anyway, you crush them up and put them in the vamps’ food, and they should die within the next few days. I don’t actually know how long the Parliamentarians can go without drinking blood, so I made them as strong as possible. One of these pills freezes magic for six months.”

 

Hakyeon paled at the thought of what those pills could do in the wrong hands.

 

“The bàs chemical in the drug stifles any magic and should make it so they can’t absorb anymore. It’s specifically coded to attack the trace amounts of magic human blood carries that the vampire needs,” Hongbin continued.

 

Jaehwan nodded. “So we have the bas draodhey- I’m going to call them bas pills, ok?” Hongbin looked disappointed that his name hadn’t caught on. “Great, we have the bas pills and we’re going to have the information on the Parliament soon.” He gestured to Hakyeon. “What are Hyukkie and I doing?”

 

Taekwoon smiled. “You guys get to be the distraction.”

 

Sanghyuk groaned. “I hate being the distraction.”

 

“But you’re a lovely distraction,” Jaehwan crooned. Sanghyuk glared at the fairy. Hongbin snickered from his corner of the table.

 

“I need you and Jaehwan to keep the Parliament’s eyes far away from the rest of us.”

 

Jaehwan caught Sanghyuk’s eye and wiggled his eyebrows. “Dance with me?” he asked.

 

Sanghyuk’s head hit the table, but not before Hakyeon glimpsed a smile spread across his lips. 

 

“And then Hakyeon slips them the pills, they die from starvation or get really weak and we kill them, and then the war’s over,” Taekwoon said triumphantly.

 

Sanghyuk raised a hand. “Ok great, but what about the power vacuum left over?”

 

Hakyeon winced. “We were planning on establishing some elections afterwards? See what happens?”

 

Sanghyuk shrugged, as if to say, _whatever you think works best, dude._

 

Sanghyuk didn’t really care, Hakyeon knew. He lived with the carelessness of an immortal who had all the time in the world. 

 

“There you have it, then,” Taekwoon said. “That’s the plan.”

 

Hakyeon took in the menagerie of people at the table. Three vampires and three fairies. Some twist of fate had brought them all together. His second, who burned through immortality without a care in the world, except one, who’s smile promised magic and smelled of mint; the fairy with eyes that burned with a cold fire and yet melted for the vampire standing in the shadows; Taekwoon, who tasted like salt and felt like freedom; and himself, a vampire about to betray his people and spark a revolution.

 

 _What strange times we live in,_ Hakyeon mused. Outside the window, a blood moon rose over the streets of New York.

 

~~~

 

 

**_Four Months Later:_ **

Derek had worked as secretary to the Parliament for almost 29 years now, and it really wasn’t as bad as people assumed. Yes, the working conditions weren’t great, and those plants in the corner always looked pretty dead and depressing, but the benefits were great. He got housing, discounts on his gas, and dental. How many other vampires could say their bosses gave them dental insurance?

 

It was Tuesday, almost midnight; one of the slower days, but when you worked for the Parliament most days were slow. There were no meetings today. There hadn’t been any meetings in a while, actually, but Derek wasn’t concerned. Sometimes the Parliament went years without seeing anyone. That irritating captain had come only a few days ago for a debriefing. He had been wearing the strongest perfume imaginable. Derek had started feeling a little hungry.

 

Either way, there wasn’t anything on the schedule, so Derek was shocked when the boardroom door opened and one of the Parliamentarians stepped out. Derek didn’t know their names. He wasn’t sure they had names anymore, but he had numbered this one Five. He had scraggly black hair down to his shoulders, and he looked sick.

 

Five looked very sick.

 

Derek rolled his chair away from his desk and stood up. “Can I help you?” he asked.

 

Five cocked his head. Derek started feeling uncomfortable under the vampire’s scrutiny.

 

“I believe you can,” Five croaked out, throat hoarse. His fangs glinted between his thin lips, slightly yellowed. One had a chip in it, Derek noticed. 

 

Then Five lunged forward, frighteningly fast for a person of his age, hands curled into claws, an inhuman shriek ripping from his throat. Derek didn’t even have time to dodge before Five’s hands wrapped around his neck.

 

His mind tangled into a mess of fear and surprise and confusion. He was supposed to get a pay raise next month. The blood in his mini fridge would expire.

 

And then Five’s fangs pierced his neck, blood gushed out, and Derek’s vision went black. 

 

Above the abandoned museum the moon wept red.

  


###  End of Part 1

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thats it folks... end of the first arc... there are like,, 1.5 more arcs planned so hold tight. I hope you've enjoyed so far and find the story interesting lol. side note, stream UN Village by the one and only byun baekhyun :)


	8. Chapter 8

As usual, everything went to shit as soon as it began.

 

The problem wasn’t the tentative alliance Hakyeon had made with Taekwoon and his fairy friends. Everyone was working well together (especially Jaehwan and Sanghyuk), and it had seemed like things were going smoothly. 

 

The first snag had been the administering of the bas pills. The Parliament, Hakyeon realized, barely ate anymore, even less so normal food; you couldn’t just roofie the Parliament in their afternoon tea. Fortunately, the Parliament played into their hands. Hakyeon was called in to report on the weapon plans, during which he produced a nicely made fake procured by Jaehwan. He wore a strong perfume. With Hakyeon providing the distraction, Sanghyuk climbed into the vents of the old building and released an aerosol version of the drug. Both he and Hakyeon held their breath the whole time. (It wasn’t hard for them, considering they didn’t need oxygen anymore. Most vampires only breathed out of force of habit.)

 

Breathing was perhaps the one human trait left in the Parliamentarians, five of which were in attendance to receive Hakyeon’s report. They seemed displeased with his choice of perfume. His perfume not only smelled wonderful, in Hakyeon’s opinion, but it conveniently covered any scent of the bas drug. The Parliament could shove their opinions up their ass. Hakyeon felt validated.

 

Hakyeon and Sanghyuk walked out of the museum feeling quite victorious, until they remembered they still had to track down the sixth Parliament member.

 

Who no one could find. No one had actually seen all six members in a room since maybe the 1950’s, and apparently this was because one of them was missing.

 

This was the next problem. Quite a large one, in fact, and it was driving Taekwoon crazy. Hakyeon would walk into the Fae office every morning to find Taekwoon pacing like a caged lion in front of his walls criss-crossed with red string and photos like a conspiracy theorist. Jaehwan really wasn’t helping; if anything, the fairy’s frequent texts encouraged Taekwoon’s tendencies with grainy photos and shaky videos from around the globe.

 

This had all been a week ago, and Hakyeon wished his biggest problem was one missing vampire and a stressed fairy. Because what he was looking at now was so much worse.

 

The vampire was resting on his side and Hakyeon might have thought he was sleeping had it not been for the pale tone of his skin. Not a normal pale, but a sallow, sickly grey color. There was your regular _I-never-go-outside_ pale and then there was the infamous _I-have-been-attacked-by-a-vampire-and-have-no-blood-in-my-body_ pale. Any vampire would be intimately familiar with the difference.

 

But Hakyeon was having a hard time coming to terms with the evidence, even as it lay right before his eyes. He’d been standing over the dead vampire for a good half hour now, having come directly to the Parliament building after receiving a worried call from Hongbin. The fairy was currently inspecting the security camera footage with Wonsik at his side.

 

Try as he might, Hakyeon couldn’t refute the facts. This vampire, who he remembered as Derek the Secretary, was completely drained of blood. The gaping wound adorning his neck supported Hakyeon’s hypothesis. Other than that, the man appeared unharmed. His name tag was still clipped onto his shirt, although it had rusty stains splattered across it.

 

It was strikingly odd, Hakyeon thought. He had seen his share of dead people. He had put many of them in that state himself. Drained bodies were nothing new to him. But the vampire lying in front of him made him feel… uncomfortable. It made him feel vulnerable, in a way Hakyeon was not used to feeling. This vampire had been drained and as far as Hakyeon knew that had never happened before. Vampires _never_ killed their own kind. Cannibalism was frowned upon, no matter who you were. Looking at Derek’s dead body was like looking at a self portrait; it was meant to look like you, and it kind of did, but something was off. Something, maybe the nose, maybe the ears, just didn’t feel right. That was what seeing a drained vampire felt like, in Hakyeon’s opinion. 

 

“Hakyeon,” he heard Hongbin call from across the room. Hakyeon shook himself and looked up.

 

Hongbin messed with the secretary’s computer behind the desk, fingers tapping quickly across the keyboard. “I found the camera footage. You should see this.”

 

Hakyeon leaned over the desk and Hongbin turned the computer around. Wonsik leaned on Hongbin’s shoulder to watch.

 

Hongbin and Wonsik had become practically inseparable. Where one went, so did the other. Hakyeon wasn’t quite sure what they spent their time doing, but knowing Hongbin, it definitely had something to do with world domination. Wonsik was technically still in the army, a low level soldier, but Hakyeon had taken the initiative to move him into the ranks of the reconnaissance division. Now Wonsik answered to him, and Hakyeon pretty much let him do whatever he wanted. Running the Espionage Corps wasn’t at the top of his list right now.

 

The camera footage was high quality, at odds with the antiquated museum. Hongbin scrolled back through days of footage showing nothing but a dark room and a still body on the floor, until the shaky image of Derek flickered from the floor to his desk. The date was about a week ago, Tuesday. 11:42 PM. Hongbin pressed play.

 

There wasn’t any sound in the video. Derek sat behind his desk, fingers flying over the keys. At a closer look, it became obvious that he wasn’t doing work but playing Battlestar Galactica. Hakyeon scoffed. Guess someone never left the 70’s. Game Over flashed across the screen in blocky font. Derek leaned back from the computer and stretched his arms over his head. 

 

Mid-stretch, his eyes widened. He scrambled out his chair and stood up, eyes fixed on something off the screen. The camera had a blind spot. His lips moved soundlessly, although it was obviously a question. He took a halting step forward, hand slightly outstretched. Hakyeon wished he could see what he was looking at. Derek’s face scrunched up in confusion.

 

Then a dark shape streaked across the screen and Derek jerked in the strangling hold of a hunched man, the figure’s head angled into his neck.

 

“Shit,” Wonsik whispered. Hongbin nodded grimly, eyes glued to the screen.

 

The footage continued, Derek’s mouth opened in a silent scream, eyes wide. The process didn’t take long. The vampire, because it was obviously a vampire, ripped into his neck with a savage intensity, blood dripping out the sides of his mouth and down Derek’s shirt. Derek eventually stopped twitching. His skin rapidly lost what little color it had.

 

The vampire dropped the secretary to the ground, the same place Hakyeon had seen it when he walked in. He drew a hand across his mouth, smearing blood over his face. A gruesome smile twisted over his lips. Hakyeon inhaled sharply. One chipped fang glinted in the dim lighting. 

 

With one last glance around the room, the vampire threw himself out the door and into the night. Hongbin paused the video.

 

“Well,” he said, “We know who did it.”

 

Wonsik stood very still. “Why would a vampire drain another vampire?” he asked, voice soft.

 

Hakyeon shrugged. He didn’t even want to think about the motives of the Parliament yet. Maybe the vampire had gone insane. Maybe the secretary had offended them. Maybe everything was fake and Hakyeon was living in the Matrix right now.

 

“Have you checked the other rooms yet?” he asked.

 

Hongbin shook his head. “No, I called you the second I knew about this.”

 

“How did you know about this?” Hakyeon asked. The fairy had too many secrets, knew too many things. Hakyeon was good at reading people, but Hongbin read like a blank slate.

 

The corners of Hongbin’s lips twitched like he was trying not to smile. “You’re the spy,” he said. “Figure it out.”

 

Hakyeon rolled his eyes and walked towards the door of the boardroom, still standing ajar. _Hongbin’s going to meet his match one of these days,_ he thought, _and when he does I’m not coming to save him._

 

The door made no sound as he pushed it open. The lights were off inside, but that didn’t inhibit his vampire eyes from widening in shock at the sight before him.

 

“You guys need to come in here,” he called. 

 

Another drained vampire lay on the floor, and that was a shock unto itself but-

 

“Holy shit. That’s a Parliament member,” Wonsik gasped.

 

It was. The body of the man Hakyeon had once likened to Doc Brown lay sprawled on the blood- streaked floor, bites and scratches littering his skin, neck almost ripped off his shoulders from the force of the killing blow. He hadn’t gone without a fight. The room was destroyed, chairs broken to splinters and table overturned. The wallpaper showed long, claw like scratches ripping through the ornamental design. Hakyeon couldn’t bring himself to feel remorse. The wallpaper had been hideous. 

 

“Yeah,” Hakyeon said. “That’s a Parliament member.”

 

Hakyeon could see Hongbin’s brain working overtime behind his narrowed eyes.

 

“Why the fuck,” Hongbin breathed, “would a Parliamentarian murder another Parliamentarian?”

 

Hakyeon smirked. “You’re the scientist,” he said. “Figure it out.”

  


~~~

  


 

Hongbin figured it out. Yeah, it took him a _long fucking time,_ but he figured it out, so Hakyeon could shove his sarcasm up his ass if he could get around the tight as hell pants he always wore.

 

“The problem,” Hongbin said to the room at large, “is that I didn’t have any vampire test subjects to actually see what effect the bas pills would have.”

 

Sanghyuk coughed, muttering under his breath. “Like that would ever happen.” Jaehwan elbowed him in the side.

 

“Additionally, the Parliament’s old age makes it incredibly difficult to judge how their bodies have reacted to the passage of time. But really, the pills should have worked. It can’t be that big of a problem."

 

Taekwoon frowned. “Three fairies and four more vampires are dead, Hongbin,” he said. “It’s a pretty big problem.” 

 

_That’s not that many people, in the grand scheme of things. People die all the time_. But that wasn’t a good thing to say in front of people. He spread his hands. “Perhaps, in hindsight, I should have provided this caveat in my initial presentation.”

 

“Perhaps you should have,” Hakyeon said coldly.

 

Hongbin cocked his head. “I’m sorry, did you have a better way to kill the Parliament, Captain?” he asked, affected politeness dripping from his voice. 

 

“This sure as hell doesn’t seem like the best way now, does it, _doctor-”_

 

Hongbin made to stand up, but Wonsik placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down. 

 

“Calm down,” he said. “Everyone is doing the best they can with what we have.”

 

Hongbin seethed quietly in his seat. How dare Hakyeon undermine his position. Just because Taekwoon had a huge crush on him didn’t mean he got to run the show. Everyone had agreed to using the pills. It wasn’t like Hongbin had gone off the rails like some kind of mad scientist. If Wonsik hadn’t been there, a calming presence at his side, Hongbin might have hit the infuriating vampire right then and there.

 

Taekwoon clasped his hands together. “Please explain the problem,” he said.

 

Hongbin took a deep breath to calm himself. Some of the heat inside his chest cooled. “I conducted some more tests, using Wonsik-

 

Sanghyuk’s head jerked up from where he’d placed it on the table. “You conducted tests on Wonsik?”

 

“It was completely harmless!” Hongbin protested. “Just his blood.”

 

Hakyeon looked suspicious. Jaehwan waved his hand in Wonsik’s direction. “Look, he’s fine,” he said. “Can we please continue the explaining?”

 

“I’m fine,” Wonsik confirmed. Hakyeon and Sanghyuk relaxed a little. _Interesting_ , Hongbin thought. Vampires were normally thought of as such solitary creatures, and yet those two showing such worry for someone they just met… maybe vampires weren’t as aloof as they thought.

 

“Using the data collected from these _harmless_ tests, I was able to conclude that the pills worked exactly as they should have. All traces of human magic were eliminated from the blood samples.” He paused.

 

Taekwoon frowned. “So why have the Parliament members gone off the rails draining people left and right?”

 

Hongbin’s face colored a little. “Wonsik’s blood samples also carried trace amounts of other supernatural blood-”

 

“What kind of supernatural blood, Hongbin?” Jaehwan asked, laughter hiding in his voice. Hongbin internally groaned.

 

“Fairy blood,” he coughed out. Sanghyuk snorted.

 

Hongbin schooled his face into impassiveness again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Wonsik smiling slightly. Taekwoon raised his eyebrows.

 

“I see,” he said. Hakyeon smirked from across the table.

 

“How was it, Wonsik?” Sanghyuk said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

 

“I will actually curse everyone in this room if you don’t shut up _right now_ ,” Hongbin bit out.

 

Everyone shut up.

 

Hongbin continued. “The magic carried in the fairy blood did not die with the addition of the bas pills,” he said. “When I created the bas pills, I coded it to target human blood patterns, because that was what vampires drank.” Nods all around. “So the drug didn’t target other forms of magic, meaning-”

 

“The Parliament can still live on vampire blood,” Hakyeon said. 

 

“Or fairy,” Jaehwan pitched in. “But we’re harder to catch.” Sanghyuk stuck out his tongue at him.

 

“So what you’re saying is that all we’ve done is make the Parliament very mad,” Taekwoon said. Hongbin nodded. “And hungry.”

 

“Well that’s pretty great,” Sanghyuk said, voice muffled because his head was resting in the crook of Jaehwan’s shoulder. At some point he had dragged his chair to the opposite side of the table to sit next to the fairy.

 

The table fell silent as each tried to wrap their heads around the situation. Everything they had so confidently talked about earlier was thrown out the window in light of the new facts; six powerful vampires were bloodthirsty and on the hunt, and they had to catch them. Hongbin, although he would never admit it, did feel guilty for part of it. He should have done more tests, should have considered other potential sources of magic sustenance, should have done _something_ more to help. Anything. He was supposed to be the smart one. It was what everyone expected. What purpose would Hongbin serve, amongst this group of passionate, brave, people placing their lives on the line, if he couldn’t carry his weight?

 

(Truth be told, Hongbin liked everyone in this room. Even Hakyeon with his cutting remarks and disregard. And because Hongbin was cold and sharp and apathetic he didn’t believe the others would come to like him in return, but he hoped they would at least appreciate him. _I appreciate you, Hummingbird. You’re worth it._ Siyeon’s voice never stayed long enough.)

 

“What even is the point,” Sanghyuk asked softly. His voice got louder as he continued. “I mean, what, these vampires have been alive for millennia, can we even kill them? And if we do, what would that accomplish? Would it end the war?” Sanghyuk sat up straighter, carding his fingers through his hair. “ _Can_ we end the war? And how do we know killing the Parliament won’t just start another one?”

 

“Also why doesn’t the war have a fucking _name_ ,” Jaehwan muttered.

 

Hongbin had asked himself that same question. He’d asked himself all of those questions before, and the only one he could answer was Jaehwan’s. It actually did have a name; _sìorraidh_ , but no one liked to speak Gaelic anymore. The name was fitting, Hongbin supposed. Eternal. Eternal and forgotten.

 

Hakyeon sighed. “We can’t know everything, Sanghyuk. I have no idea what the ripple effects of our actions will be. All I know is that the world will be better without the Parliament in it.”

 

“Are you sure?” Sanghyuk asked. “Because the vampires have been doing pretty ok for the most part.”

 

“Ask my captain,” Hakyeon said icily.

 

Hongbin winced.

 

“The point,” Taekwoon said, “is that we have power in a world where very few people do. The Parliament does too, and they use that power to put fear into their subjects. If I can help in any way at all, I want to.”

 

In Hongbin’s mind, this was the problem with Hakyeon and Taekwoon. They both thought they could help the world, and maybe they could. Maybe they could use their motivational speeches and huge reserves of power to convince people of their cause, but it would never erase the fact that nine times out of ten, the world didn’t want their help.

 

Sanghyuk didn’t seem totally convinced, but he let the matter drop. Hongbin could sense future conversations. Jaehwan looked like he’d heard those same questions before.

 

(To be honest, Hongbin was fairly confident removing the Parliament would end the war. The real question, in his opinion, was what would happen after. These people who burned so brightly now, vampires and fairies working together, would that be possible once the vampire government descended into anarchy?)

 

“I don’t think we can use the same trick,” Taekwoon said with an apologetic glance towards Hongbin. “First of all, I doubt they would all be in the same place again anytime soon, and second, they’re not idiots. They probably know what’s happening and who did it, and they’ll be hyper aware of our movements.”

 

(This all turned out to be true, although not in entirety; a warrant was put out for Hakyeon’s and Sanghyuk’s arrest by the Parliament the next day. Sanghyuk was devastated to find that Hakyeon’s reward was nearly $3000 more. Jaehwan was even more disappointed to realize that none of the fairies- or Wonsik -were under suspicion yet. He wanted a bounty on his head.)

 

“And we can’t get our respective armies involved, one because it would take too long to mobilize and two, I honestly can’t say how many vampires would be willing to support killing their government.” 

 

Hakyeon conceded the point.

 

“So, what,” Wonsik said, “we just pick them off one by one and hope they stay in line?”

 

Hakyeon tilted his head. “You know, that’s not a bad idea… They might catch on but we’d get a few.”

 

“And there are only six to begin with,” Sanghyuk cut in. He already seemed on board with the plan, although Hongbin suspected he’d be on board with any plan that involved tracking people down and killing them. “How hard can it be?”

 

No one spoke. Hongbin genuinely couldn’t believe everyone was considering this idea.

 

“I’m sorry,” he said, “But we have _no idea_ what these vampires are capable of. Hakyeon hasn’t learned anything about them yet-”

 

“-I’m going to the library this weekend I promise-”

 

“And we all see that jumping into something without proper research is a _bad thing_ , right?” Hongbin talked right through Hakyeon’s whined excuse. 

 

“I really am going to the library this weekend,” Hakyeon muttered to Sanghyuk. “I had to renew my membership. It expired 38 years ago.”

 

Sanghyuk snickered.

 

Taekwoon sighed. “Honestly, Hongbin, I don’t know a better option here.” Hongbin narrowed his eyes. 

 

“Are you just agreeing with Hakyeon because you want to fuck him?”

 

Taekwoon’s face turned a shocking shade of red. His mouth opened and closed like a fish for a couple seconds. Hakyeon inhaled the glass of water he’d been drinking.

 

“What-no… That’s not the reason…” Taekwoon sputtered, ears burning.

 

Hakyeon wiped water off his cheek. “You know Taekwoon and I aren’t together, right?”

 

“Oh, I know,” Hongbin said. “If that ever changes, shoot me an email or something.”

 

Sanghyuk had literal tears in his eyes from trying to hold back his laughter. Jaehwan almost flopped out of his chair. Wonsik checked to make sure Taekwoon hadn’t died from embarrassment.

 

“Guys,” Wonsik said quietly. When no one responded, he shouted. “Guys!”

 

The room quieted down, quiet sniffles coming from Sanghyuk’s direction. “We do actually need to come up with a plan. We are all adults, can we please be productive ones?”

 

Hongbin felt like he was working on a group project with his school friends. No work got done until the last five minutes, and then it was a mad scramble to convince the teacher that the garbage fire they turned in actually was a metaphorical representation of the El Salvadorian sea turtle. 

 

Sanghyuk raised his hand. What a nerd. “I vote we split into teams and hunt down the Parliamentarians.”

 

“I second that,” Jaehwan called.

 

Hongbin scoffed. “You’re vote doesn’t count.”

 

“What?” Jaehwan put his hand over his heart, a shocked expression plastered on his face. “Am I not a valid member of this team? Why doesn’t my vote count?”

 

“Because you’re fucking him,” Hakyeon cut in.

 

“You jealous?” 

 

“Shut up!” Wonsik snapped. “Shut up and think about the people that the Parliament is draining right now as you sit there and argue about who’s fucking who.”

 

Taekwoon leaned over to Hongbin. “I want to hire your assistant.”

 

“I will not be telling him that,” Hongbin whispered back. “Back off.”

 

“In my opinion,” Hakyeon began, “I think picking off the Parliament one by one would work the best. Vampires are solitary creatures, especially in moments of bloodlust like these, and it would be much easier to take them on separately than together.”

 

Although he hated to agree with Hakyeon, Hongbin was beginning to see the logic of the plan. And really, what could they do? If they even spent too long thinking about it, the Parliament would get to them first.

 

“Additionally,” Hakyeon continued, “I know where a lot of their hideouts are from previous missions. I can point them out and we can split up.”

 

Taekwoon nodded. “I think this is the best solution we have.”

 

“Also, there are six of us and six of them,” Sanghyuk pointed out. “It almost seems like fate.”

 

“One’s already dead,” Wonsik said. “Your math doesn’t work.” Sanghyuk grinned sharply.

 

“It’d work if I killed you.” Wonsik rolled his eyes.

 

Hongbin hadn’t believed in fate before he met Wonsik. Now, however, he was beginning to wonder if his atheistic outlook needed to be amended. Perhaps he should lean more towards agnosticism. After all, he breathed magic and kissed vampires, was it all that hard to believe there was something there? (Hongbin didn’t subscribe to the God thing like some people did, but perhaps there was some glowing entity in the sky nudging people in different directions. All hail the glow cloud.)

 

Taekwoon raised his hand. “All in favor of Plan Kill the Parliament One By One?”

 

“I want a different name,” Hongbin said, raising his hand. 

 

“Can I pick the name?” Jaehwan asked, hand also in the air. Sanghyuk was practically in his lap at this point.

 

“I want to partner with Jaehwan,” he said.

 

Wonsik put his head in his hands. “They’re like children,” he groaned to Hongbin. Hongbin agreed, but he was too distracted by the length of Wonsik’s eyelashes to respond at that moment. 

 

“You know,” Hakyeon mused, “I know one Parliamentarian who has their house here in the city. If you put all of us together, I’m sure we could think of some plan to take them out.”

 

“And after we get number Two,” Taekwoon said, “We can split up to take out the last four. That gives them the least time to retaliate.”

 

“We also don’t know what a diet of vampire and Fae blood will do to them,” Hongbin suggested. “I doubt drinking continued exposure to high quantities of Fae blood will leave them unchanged.”

 

Hakyeon nodded thoughtfully. 

 

“I want to partner with Jaehwan,” Sanghyuk called out again, arm wrapped around the fairy’s shoulders.

 

Hongbin glared at Hakyeon. “I will _not_ be your partner.”

 

“You couldn’t handle me,” Hakyeon scoffed. Hongbin rolled his eyes. He reached over to grab Wonsik’s hand.

 

“Partner?” he asked, and Wonsik’s eyes were so pretty and expressive Hongbin could have exploded. The vampire nodded. It was such a soft nod Hongbin almost didn’t remember they were planning to kill vampires together. How romantic.

 

“I guess that leaves us, then,” Taekwoon said softly.

 

Hakyeon nodded, expression indecipherable. “I guess so. What will we do with all that time, I wonder?” His fangs glinted. Wonsik had prettier fangs, in Hongbin’s educated opinion.

  
Taekwoon blushed delicately. He ripped his eyes away from Hakyeon’s. “That sounds reasonable,” he managed, voice shaky.

 

“I support that motion,” Jaehwan called, banging his fist on the table like a judge’s gavel. Sanghyuk had a hand up his shirt. Hongbin hoped this meeting ended soon before he had to see Sanghyuk and Jaehwan move through all the bases right there at the table.

 

“Just to be clear,” Hongbin said, “I want Hakyeon to finish his research on any special powers the Parliament may have before anyone goes off on their own for some vamp hunting.”

 

Hakyeon frowned. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

  
  
“Please go to the library,” Taekwoon said softly.

 

“Well.” Hakyeon smiled sweetly at the fairy. “Since you asked so nicely.”

 

Grabbing Wonsik’s hand, Hongbin hurried out the door just as Sanghyuk pressed a wet, open mouthed kiss against Jaehwan’s exposed neck. Fucking children.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everything’s making sense. Hongbin’s all hail the glow cloud is from the Nightvale podcast, which is hilarious and I highly recommend. My twitter is [here](https://twitter.com/vixxoIogist) if you want to see me dying over kpop and also Hongbin. Thanks so much for reading :)


	9. Chapter 9

 

Sanghyuk really liked poetry. That may come as a shock to some, but he had excelled in his high school english class. That was, until he died. Regardless, some poet somewhere had described humanity as dust, eternally trying to become a star. Sanghyuk disagreed. There was nothing about humanity that resembled dust. He supposed it was something you could only see from the outside, how short and bright those human souls burned, with a passion and intensity that far outshone immortals. Sanghyuk would give anything to have that back, to have a purpose that consumed his soul like the singly human pursuit of _survival._ Immortality had taken everything and given nothing but time with which to regret it.

 

Years ago, when he’d first turned, Sanghyuk had decided he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t regret it, or regret anything, really. He wouldn’t be dust trying to become a star, and he couldn’t burn with the intensity of one, but he could try. He could exist in the infinity of space between the dust and stars, and that could be enough. There had to be more; the world wasn’t made of only dust and starlight. He’d find something else. He could even look behind the stars. He had all the time in the world. He could invent a purpose for himself, and if it wasn’t the war it could be a certain fairy that tasted like mint.

 

And that poet was pretentious anyway.

 

 _Behind the stars,_ Sanghyuk mused. _Sounds like a cheesy band name._

 

“Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon hissed into his ear. “Go ask the librarian if he likes your tie.”

 

Sanghyuk frowned. “What? I’m not wearing a tie.” He didn’t think he’d worn a tie in his life.

 

“It’s code, Sanghyuk, just do it.” Sanghyuk groaned.

 

“Why can’t you do it?” he asked.

 

Hakyeon glared at Sanghyuk. “One, because you’re my subordinate and two, because I’ve slept with that man before and I don’t want to talk with him.”

 

Sanghyuk sighed and looked around for the librarian in question.

 

The New York Society Library was the oldest in the city; it required a subscription (the main reason Hakyeon had taken so long to drop by) and had a foot in both the human and supernatural world. Sanghyuk had never been here before, mostly because he’d never needed an old book about super old vampires, but he found himself already disliking the dim lighting and general stuffiness of the building. It looked like a depressed ghost of 18th century interior decorating.

 

There was a young man perched on a chair behind a mahogany stained desk to Sanghyuk’s left. Sanghyuk supposed he was pretty good looking. Objectively. Subjectively, his face had nothing on Jaehwan’s. The librarian slowly turned the yellowed pages of a book. Sanghyuk shuffled closer, Hakyeon following close behind with a scarf pulled up over his face.

 

With a slight cough, Sanghyuk hesitantly got the man’s attention. “Excuse me?”

 

The librarian looked up, nudging his glasses up his nose with a finger. “Can I help you?” he asked quietly. Sanghyuk hesitated.

 

Hakyeon nudged him with a sharp elbow. “Your tie,” he muttered.

 

“Do you, uh, like my tie…?” Sanghyuk asked, quite obviously not wearing a tie. God, why did vampires make everything so hard.

 

The man’s eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish gasping for air. Finally, he snapped the book closed and quickly stood up, brushing off his hands. “Very much so, sir. If you would follow me, I can take you to the section you’re looking for.”

 

Hakyeon fixed his scarf and followed the librarian, and even though Sanghyuk couldn’t see his lips he could tell he was smiling. Hakyeon liked when people did what he told them to do. Sanghyuk followed his captain with a sigh, stepping past a few worn armchairs. An old man was asleep in one of them, book slipping slowly off his lap.

 

The maroon carpet muffled their steps, not that either of the vampires would have made much noise anyway. The librarian seemed nervous as he led them through the hallways, hands fidgeting behind his back. He shoved them into his pockets.

 

They passed several smaller rooms, most doors closed but some others cracked open. Sanghyuk caught a glimpse of a room where the books appeared to be arranging themselves on shelves smoking with a grey mist. Large flakes of ash floated through a beam of sunlight filtering through the window. Odd, not only because of the obvious magic at work but because there was no way a window this deep into the building could be facing the sun. He paused for a second, but the librarian’s voice dragged him back.

 

“I’m sorry sir, you don’t have clearance for that room. Please follow me.”

 

Sanghyuk wondered how many rooms held the histories of different supernatural underworlds. Obviously the vampires were only one of the many groups to store their books here. _Maybe one day I’ll get Jaehwan to take me to the Fae section,_ he thought. He wasn’t much for reading, but Jaehwan was, and he’d like to see the fairy against the background of magic and history.

 

The librarian fished a key ring out of his pocket, and selected a small silver one from the wide array of options. The door they had stopped in front of was marked with a matching silver plaque reading _C192_ , a strangely normal name for such a room. With a twist of his wrist the librarian unlocked the door and nudged it open. He stepped to the side to let Sanghyuk and Hakyeon enter. His forehead wrinkled in confusion as Hakyeon walked past.

 

The librarian wrung his hands together nervously for a few seconds, mustering up his courage, and then asked quickly, “I’m so sorry, can I look at your fangs?”

 

Sanghyuk heard Hakyeon sigh. “I can’t believe I ever fucked him,” he muttered, too quietly for anyone but a vampire to hear. He wandered away into the room.

 

Sanghyuk met the fidgeting librarian’s eyes. “Here’s the thing-” he squinted at the man’s name tag- “Brian?”

 

Brian nodded.

 

“Here’s the thing, Brian. You can’t just _ask_ to look at a vampire’s fangs. That’s like me asking to see your dick, ok, and I don’t really want to see your dick right now, so this relationship you’re starting?” Sanghyuk gestured between the two of them. “It just wouldn’t work out. Fangs aren’t compatible with dicks.” He smiled apologetically with a few too many teeth, canines unnaturally sharp.

 

Brian’s face turned a shocking shade of red. He stumbled back over the threshold. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to imply anything, hope your research goes well.” The door snapped shut behind the stressed librarian.

 

Sanghyuk snickered. Hakyeon stepped up behind him, trying unsuccessfully to wipe the grin off his face. “You didn’t have to scare the poor man that much.”

 

“He’ll be fine,” Sanghyuk said. “This way he won’t be back to bother us.” There hadn’t been anything true in what he’d told the unfortunate librarian. Fangs weren’t anything special in vampire culture. While they were retractable into their gums, most vampires were comfortable keeping them extended. (And fangs were definitely compatible with dicks, albeit with a little more strategy. Sanghyuk knew this from experience.)

 

But he really liked messing with humans.

 

Hakyeon ran his fingers over the shelves of books. Compared to the glimpses of other rooms Sanghyuk had seen, this one didn’t look very special. Normal looking books sat on regular shelves, with typical chairs positioned by average tables. The only vaguely odd thing about the room was how unnaturally dusty it was. Hakyeon coughed. He pulled his scarf back over his nose.

 

Sanghyuk flopped down in one of the arm chairs, flicking on the lamp sitting nearby. He slouched down and settled himself in to take a nap. He had just closed his eyes when-

 

“What the fuck-” he jerked up as a heavy object landed into his lap. Hakyeon stood over him, arms crossed. 

 

“Read the fucking book.”

 

Sanghyuk rolled his eyes.

 

“I will actually demote you. Don’t test me.”

 

Sanghyuk flipped open the book indignantly, wincing at the cloud of dust that arose. _On the Parliament and the Associat’d Pow’rs_ read the title. Sanghyuk could feel the impending headache.

 

Three hours later (it had only been forty-five minutes but Sanghyuk was prone to over exaggeration in times of strife) Sanghyuk slammed the fifth book onto the stack in front of him.

 

“Hakyeon, there’s nothing here,” he groaned. “Just a mess of political opinions and vague references to the JFK assassination.”

 

Hakyeon sighed, leaning his head back against the chair. His scarf lay abandoned on the table. “This is the only place I know to look. If I don’t bring anything back, and something happens, Hongbin will literally rip me apart with his creepy purple sparkles.”

 

“If we don’t find anything we can just say that they’re normal vampires and hope for the best,” Sanghyuk offered.

 

“They’re not normal vampires,” Hakyeon snapped, patience fraying. “The books are sure of that, if nothing else. One of these said they could _fly_.”

 

“Maybe they can.”

 

“They cannot fucking fly, Sanghyuk, and if you don’t take this seriously, I will actually-”

 

Sanghyuk never found out what Hakyeon would have done, because at that moment there was a sharp knock at the door. Both vampires whipped their heads towards the sound. 

 

Sanghyuk shrugged. “Who is it?” he called. He saw Hakyeon’s hand inching towards the knife he knew was concealed in his jacket.

 

“Brian, I thought I _told_ you-” Sanghyuk’s voice caught in his throat as the door swung open slowly.

 

A young woman with straight black hair falling down her shoulders hovered in the doorway. She offered a little smile, a set of gleaming fangs extending over her lips. “Please don’t touch that knife, Captain Cha.”

 

“Not Brian,” Sanghyuk muttered under his breath. “Definitely not Brian.”

 

Hakyeon’s hand paused its motion, but his eyes remained fixed on the woman. Sanghyuk remained frozen. Unknown vampires surprising them during their research on how to kill the Parliament couldn’t possibly be a good sign.

 

“Can we help you?” Hakyeon asked, voice deadly quiet. It was less of a question and more of an order. _State your business or leave,_ his eyes said.

 

The woman stepped closer confidently, heels clicking over the metal threshold. She walked like the laws of the universe didn’t apply to her, like she didn’t wear a crown but expected the world to fall at her feet anyway. Sanghyuk respected her ability to make wearing heels that tall look that easy. Her eyes were dark, the polish on her nails even darker. She wore a casual jacket over a deep red button-down shirt. Eighteen year old repressed Sanghyuk would have been all over her.

 

“I was hoping I could help you, actually,” she said. Her voice rang softly throughout the room. Hakyeon narrowed his eyes.

 

“You could start by telling us who you are,” Hakyeon said. “And not getting any closer.”

 

The woman smiled widely and stopped by one of the chairs across from Hakyeon and Sanghyuk. She gave a little bow. It was a fairly sarcastic bow, in Sanghyuk’s opinion. “My name is Gahyeon,” she said. “It’s a pleasure.”

 

“I’m sure,” Sanghyuk murmured. Even with her heels, Gahyeon was shorter than both Sanghyuk and Hakyeon by a good number of inches, but she didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest. Hakyeon’s infamous glare burning a hole through the wall behind her didn’t phase her.

 

“I heard you’re looking for books on the Parliament,” she said, one elegant eyebrow raised. “I happen to be an expert on them.”

 

“I would really like to know how you heard about that.” No one outside of their group knew, and yet, somehow this woman did.

 

“I would really like you to leave,” Hakyeon said harshly. Gahyeon replied to neither of their questions, that odd smile still gracing her lips.

 

“I would like to help,” she said again. “But I won’t ask again.” Sanghyuk shrugged. The enemy of the vampire dictatorship you were trying to murder was your friend, or something. At least he assumed Gahyeon was an enemy of the Parliament. Why else would she be offering them information?

 

Hakyeon took another step forward, knuckles clenched white to the hilt of his knife. “I think you should leave-” he began, but Sanghyuk cut him off with a sharp elbow to the ribs.

 

“She wants to help,” he said. To Gahyeon, he asked, “Are you a librarian?”

 

“Of a sort.” Her eyes didn’t quite seem to match her pleasant tone of voice. “I… collect information.”

 

Hakyeon directed his glare onto Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk internally winced. “She shouldn’t know anything about this, Sanghyuk,” he muttered. “It’s suspicious.”

 

“We need all the help we can get.” _And didn’t you want to_ not die _at the hands of a particularly scary scientist?_

 

Gahyeon inspected her flawless fingernails, hip resting against the armchair. “I’m on a time crunch, Captain, don’t have all day.”

 

Hakyeon sighed, eyes rolling upwards in a plea for help. “Fine, yes, what can you tell us about the Parliament?”

 

Gahyeon clapped her manicured hands together. “That’s more like it,” she said, beaming. She took a seat in the chair and gestured for Hakyeon to do the same. He did, although much more tentatively than she had. Sanghyuk hovered behind his shoulder.

 

“Any specifics? Or just wondering about the Parliament in general…?” she asked, eyes bright.

 

Hakyeon glared. “You seem to already know what we’re looking for,” he said through gritted teeth. Gahyeon laughed.

 

“You’re right, I do.”

 

Who was this woman, Sanghyuk wondered. Who was this person who had walked through that door like she owned the place and knew everything about their mission that was supposed to be top secret? Sanghyuk was suddenly slightly worried for his safety. Any woman who could look comfortable wearing heels like Gahyeon was a threat. She could stab his eye out with one well-placed kick. A slight shiver rippled through his body.

 

“The Parliament,” Gahyeon began, voice much larger than her slight frame implied, “are not normal vampires. But I suspect you already knew this, and that’s why you came here, to find what made them different.” Hakyeon nodded.

 

“Well first of all, their senses are going to be much stronger than your typical vampire’s. Sight, smell, hearing, all that, as well as physical characteristics like speed and strength. They’re also going to be fairly resistant to lower and mid-class levels of magic, which might make it hard for your fairy friends.” Gahyeon winked. “But that’s common knowledge. Older vampires are always more powerful in that regard.”

 

“Here’s where things get a little different.” Gaheyon paused for effect. Sanghyuk leaned a little closer. “The Parliament can Speak.”

 

Sanghyuk frowned. “Ok? Lots of vampires can Speak. I can Speak”

 

“True,” Gahyeon said with a smirk, “But can you Speak to _other vampires_?”

 

The room went very still. For a few seconds nobody spoke.

 

“The Parliamentarians can… Speak to vampires?” Hakyeon asked quietly.

 

Sanghyuk felt chills run down his spine. No one could Speak to vampires. It wasn’t possible. It went against every bone in his body to even think to control one of his own like that. It just… wasn’t right. The Parliamentarians were so old, so incredibly ancient that their magic had surpassed the intrinsic boundaries present in every vampire. Their Speech could bind anyone to their voice.

 

Hakyeon shivered slightly, and Sanghyuk knew the same emotions ran through his head. 

 

Gahyeon let them reflect on the revelation for a few more seconds and then spoke again. “But you’re in luck,” she said happily, “Because we live in the modern world and things like _ear plugs_ exist, so congratulations, you have a solution.”

 

Hakyeon nodded, but Sanghyuk could tell his mind wasn’t in the present.

 

“Thank you for the information,” Sanghyuk said, a little coldly but this woman was much more excited about the situation than she had any right to be. “Is there anything else we should know about?”

 

Gahyeon paused for a second, finger tapping her lower lip. “No,” she said. “Don’t think so.”

 

“In that case, we’ll be leaving now-” Hakyeon made to stand up.

 

“Wait!” Gahyeon said, finger in the air. “One last thing.” Hakyeon hesitated.

 

“You’re missing a Parliamentarian, aren’t you,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

 

“Maybe,” Sanghyuk said. “Hypothetically, if we were, would you know where he is?”

 

A mysterious little smile passed over Gahyeon’s face. “I wouldn’t go looking for him,” she said. “If you can’t find him, he probably doesn’t want to be found.”

 

“Thanks for the tip,” Sanghyuk said, grabbing Hakyeon’s arm and tugging him towards the door. He’d had enough of this scary woman with her secret smiles and dagger-like heels. “We’ll be going now.”

 

As they crossed the threshold, he glanced back to see Gahyeon giving them a tiny wave, that secret smile still gracing her lips and her eyes appearing to hold many more years than they should. Sanghyuk shivered and the door clicked closed.

 

~~~

 

 

The group chat was named A New Hope, mostly because Sanghyuk was a nerd, but also because it helped raise general moral. Wonsik didn’t know if it helped, especially because after _A New Hope_ came _The Empire Strikes Back_ , but he hadn’t mentioned that to anyone except Hongbin, who had looked at him like he was insane for thinking movie names had any affect on their current situation. Hongbin was practical like that. (Although he still couldn’t make coffee. Wonsik had a suspicion that he knew how to by this point, and just refused to make it properly out of stubbornness.)

 

But this was why Hongbin’s visceral reaction to the knowledge that the Parliament could Speak to anyone, vampires included, shocked him. A few hours ago, Sanghyuk had sent a quick text explaining what they had learned. The short lines simply read “ _l_ _ow and mid-level magic resistance, enhanced speed, strength, and senses above ur average vampire’s. can Speak to vampires.”_ No other context was provided.

 

Thanks for just dropping it like that, Sanghyuk.

 

Hongbin had read the text about five minutes ago (because he had a tendency to leave his phone in random places about his apartment and forget where it was, even though his IQ was higher than anyone Wonsik had ever met) and still hadn’t said a word. He’d sat down in one of the wooden chairs and fixed his eyes on the little green bubble. Sanghyuk had an android. Disgraceful.

 

“You ok, Bean?” Wonsik asked gently from across the table. Bean because it sounded like Hongbin’s name and because of the coffee incident during one of their first unofficial dates. They hadn’t really gone on _dates,_ per se, but the amount of time they spent together made them seem less important. Although Wonsik would like to make Hongbin turn his brain off and just enjoy a dinner once in a while. Was that possible? Maybe not. 

 

It would be so easy to reach out and take his hand, but Wonsik wasn’t sure that was what Hongbin wanted right now, so he remained in his seat across from the fairy. (Hongbin’s apartment only had two chairs, as if he never expected company.)

 

Hongbin didn’t say anything. His fingers twitched around the phone a little.

 

“Hongbin?”

 

Hongbin jerked his head up to meet Wonsik’s eyes. “I forgot vampires could do that,” he said, slowly and carefully, like he was worried his voice would betray him. Wonsik loved Hongbin’s voice, had he mentioned that before?

 

(He loved everything about Hongbin, but his voice still caused little sparks of warmth to run over his skin.)

 

“Speak, you mean?” Wonsik said.

 

“Yeah. Speak.” Hongbin placed the phone purposefully onto the table, arranging it exactly perpendicular to the edge. “Can you Speak?”

 

Wonsik considered the question. “Yeah,” he said, shrugging. “Sort of. It works sometimes, depending on the person.” Hongbin waited. “It wouldn’t work on you.”

 

The fairy nodded. The little remark, _it wouldn’t work on you_ , seemed to ease a lot of the tension in his shoulders. His fingers relaxed a little on the table.

 

There was a moment of silence. Wonsik was content to wait for Hongbin to talk when he was ready. And if he never was, Wonsik was fine with that. As long as he was able to help with anything he could help with.

 

Hongbin opened his mouth slowly. “I don’t have many talents,” he began, and Wonsik wanted to stop him right there and tell him that no, you have so many talents, so, so many. Wonsik could make him a list of all the talents he had, but Hongbin was still talking. “I’m not really strong like you are, I can’t kill someone thirty-eight different ways like Hakyeon can, I can’t make friends with everyone I come across like Jaehwan.” Hongbin’s eyes were steady, even though his voice was quiet. There was a burning steel in his gaze. 

 

“But I have three PhD’s and an IQ higher than some people can count, Wonsik, and I detest the idea that there are those who can take that away from me, who can take that one power I have out of my grasp.”

 

And yes, that was a problem, but it was a problem solved by a good pair of noise-cancellation earbuds. The bigger problem here, according to Wonsik, was Hongbin’s self-esteem. And Wonsik committed himself to solving it, no matter how long it took.

 

Hongbin’s tight grip on the table was back, but the nervous tension of five minutes ago was replaced by a determined force reflected in the burning of his eyes.

 

“My mind is the one thing I have that is mine and mine alone, that the world cannot take from me, and fuck those vampires if they think they can try,” Hongbin said savagly. The room smelled like singed lavender, and his eyes burned purple when hit with the right light. Wonsik found his righteous anger beautiful, in the way avenging angels were glorious in their might and power. Maybe that was too grand, but the fairy in front of him was painting the room purple with his declaration.

 

Wonsik nodded, about to say something, but Hongbin cut him off.

 

“If you _ever_ use your Speech on me,” Hongbin said, voice a little softer now but no less dangerous, “I will remove your tongue from your head.”

 

Wonsik frowned a little. That was a bit intense.

 

“I mean no, I wouldn’t do that,” Hongbin hastily amended, burning eyes mellowing out to a gentler, more sustainable glow. “But I would be very irritated and potentially not speak to you for a fair interval of time.”

 

“I appreciate you not removing my tongue,” Wonsik said. But he saw where Hongbin was coming from. To Hongbin, the current, low self-esteem Hongbin of right now, the only reason anyone needed him was for his mind. And no one was taking the time to prove him wrong. 

 

Hongbin smiled. “You’re welcome.”

 

His smile shifted to something less sweet and a little sharper. “I like your tongue too much to do anything to it.”

 

Wonsik coughed, head spinning as images of late nights and lazy mornings flitted through his head. Hongbin’s hair mussed and tangled, his neck thrown back in ecstasy, beautiful against the sheets of their bed. He blinked.

 

Hongbin smiled like he could read his mind. Maybe he could. Wonsik wouldn’t put it past him.

 

Shifting gears suddenly, because conversations with Hongbin moved at the speed of light and Wonsik could never keep up, Hongbin asked, “How has your mom been doing?”

 

Wonsik sighed, running his fingers through his hair and leaning back in his chair. “Not great. The amulet did nothing, so her condition is exactly the same as before. She’s even stopped going to her therapist.”

 

Hongbin grimaced. “Sorry,” he said, although Wonsik knew he wasn’t really that sorry. He was sorry for any hurt or regret Wonsik felt, absolutely. But Hongbin held no favorable feelings towards Sunyoung. For good reason, Wonsik supposed, but he couldn’t cut people out of his life as quickly as his mother had cut him out of hers.

 

“I was expecting it,” Wonsik said dejectedly, although none of his preparation could really prepare him for what it felt like to ghost a family member in real life, as Hongbin had so delicately put it.

 

He still texted his mother every once in a while, asking for updates or if she wanted help paying the apartment bills. If the response wasn’t leaving him on read it was a straightforward _no thank you, Wonsik._ At least she was being polite while she erased herself from her son’s life. Wonsik couldn’t bring himself to feel thankful.

 

“Is there anything I can do…?” Hongbin asked. It didn’t really sound like he wanted to be in the same room as Sunyoung, although Wonsik was sure that if he asked, Hongbin would do whatever he needed.

 

“No, the only thing I can do is keep the good memories and not create any more bad ones,” Wonsik said. That was his goal. His mother wasn’t dead, even if she wished she were, but she was obviously happier without him trying to help. And Wonsik was done trying to help.

 

Hongbin nodded slowly. “Well, I hope you know I will be working on sets of Speech resistant earbuds that double as communication devices for the foreseeable future.”

 

Wonsik smiled. That was just like Hongbin, to avoid the emotional conversation and switch to something he was comfortable with, electronics and research. And then he wondered when he’d gotten to know Hongbin so well that he could think about things like that. “I know you’ll be able to make it work,” he said. “You always seem to do the impossible.”

 

Hongbin gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I’ve never done anything impossible in my life, Wonsik.”

 

It was just an expression really, do the impossible, but Wonsik was taken aback by the casual scorn Hongbin used. Because really, impossible was only a mindset, in a world where fairies and vampires ran through the New York underground, and to Wonsik, three PhDs was pretty impossible. And he wished Hongbin would see that.

 

He wished Hongbin realized that his very existence defied most people’s idea of impossible. Magic dripped from his voice and sparked from his fingers and burned in his eyes, and why could Wonsik see that so clearly and Hongbin couldn’t? 

 

“You’re impossible,” Wonsik said, and it came out teasing and not at all like how he meant to say it, but he couldn’t put into words the depth of his feelings and so Hongbin laughed it off with a little smile.

 

“Only for you, my dear,” Hongbin said, grinning.

 

 

~~~

 

 

Hongbin had never done the impossible. He had done the very difficult, sure. Three PhDs were no one’s walk in the park, and neither were the stacks of research articles to his name. And of course, it was hard to define impossible in this world of spells and magic and blood, but he had a name for it. Siyeon flew through his dreams on light wings. _Hummingbird,_ she’d say. _It’s not your fault, hummingbird. You couldn’t have done anything. I love you._ But her kindness cut Hongbin to the bone like a razor and he woke from those dreams shivering. 

 

_It’s not your fault._

 

No, it wasn’t. Hongbin was smart enough to realize that. It was solely the fault of the person who had been out late drinking, the person who had decided to tempt fate from behind the wheel of a speeding car, and Hongbin didn’t even know who that person was.

 

_It’s not your fault._

 

It wasn’t, but Hongbin wished it were, just so he could have someone to blame. Because Siyeon meant the world to him, and someone had ripped her from it.

 

And now Wonsik was sitting across from him, eyes so soft and deep and caring, telling him he could do the impossible, and Hongbin couldn’t. Because the one thing he’d discovered, the one thing no one could do, was bring someone back from the dead.

 

(He’d done extensive research on this. Vampirism was out of the question. The death required for vampirism was never a true death, even though the vampires liked to say they were dead because it helped their image, and it wouldn’t work on a Fae anyway. The magic wasn’t compatible. And magic didn’t want to reanimate a truly dead body. It would slip off like oil in water.)

 

Impossible had a name, and that name was Siyeon. And Hongbin would never hear her voice again except in his dreams, and he didn’t know if that was more or less painful.

 

But Wonsik was here, Wonsik with his soft eyes and fairy hands and right now that was enough. His presence smoothed over the jagged edges Siyeon’s death had left behind.

 

(Deep down, a part of Hongbin whispered that Wonsik would never stay. That he’d get tired of Hongbin’s long silences and his lavender sparks and walk out the door. But Hongbin tried his best to ignore the voice.)

 

Because for now, he had Wonsik, and he had Taekwoon and Jaehwan and Sanghyuk and even Hakyeon, as bitchy as the man was sometimes, and Hongbin was working towards a goal he supported and for now, he was content.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooo look at that... it's a New Character... who is she?? mysterious...
> 
> as always, thanks for reading :)


	10. Chapter 10

  
  


Taekwoon was being dragged out to another lunch, this time at a little coffee shop slash cafe that Hakyeon had picked. He was going out to lunch. With Hakyeon.  _ Only  _ with Hakyeon. And it was taking all of his mental fortitude to convince himself that it wasn’t, not in any way, a date. Because they weren’t dating. Sure, they’d run into each other several times over the years and yeah, Hakyeon had tasted his blood as a newborn vampire, but that didn’t mean they were dating.

 

(Although sometimes a very quiet part of Taekwoon wished they were.)

 

Hakyeon’s text had read  _ Want to go to that coffee shop off 20th and 8th Ave to talk strategy  _ with the winky face emoji, and maybe Hakyeon was just an emoji person (he definitely was) and just randomly included winky faces in his texts or maybe Taekwoon was just reading way to deeply into a casual text, but he didn’t know what to think. The point to all this was, Taekwoon was confused.

 

(And Jaehwan wasn’t helping with his wiggly eyebrows and air quotes around “strategy”.)

 

Taekwoon, to be honest, hadn’t been in many relationships. There had been your typical one night stand kind of deal on occasion, but nothing lasting longer than a few months. His job kept him busy and he was an introverted person in general, so people didn’t really tend to stick.

 

But Hakyeon had. From that first night, under the faint red glow of the blood moon like some kind of prophecy, Hakyeon had latched on to Taekwoon’s mind with his sharp fangs and sharper wit and never let go. And Taekwoon had never expected to see the pretty vampire again after that night, so imagine his surprise when newly promoted Captain of the Espionage Corps, Cha Hakyeon, snuck into one of his Fae camps for the first time and stole a set of plans from right under his nose. 

 

The coffee shop was called Café Grumpy, which Taekwoon was convinced was a pointed insult on Hakyeon’s part, but the interior was cute and busy enough that they didn’t need to worry about anyone overhearing their conversation. Because this was a strategy meeting. Very official business. He checked his glamour again before approaching the cafe.

 

The warm air and the fragrance of coffee hit Taekwoon the second he opened the door, but not as hard as the image of Hakyeon lounging in one of the chairs beside a low coffee table did. He had his feet up on the table, long legs stretched out in front of him. The man seemed incapable of sitting in chairs normally. He set down his cup and looked up as Taekwoon entered.

 

As Taekwoon sat down, Hakyeon frowned a little. “You feel different,” he said. He was drinking tea, Taekwoon noticed. Not a surprise.

 

Taekwoon looked at him with a confused expression. “I feel different?” Hakyeon wasn’t even touching him, how could he  _ feel  _ different.

 

“Yeah,” Hakyeon said, eyes narrowed like he was trying to see through Taekwoon. “Muffled, subdued.”

 

Realization hit Taekwoon. “You’ve never seen me with a glamour on?” he asked. Hakyeon’s eyes widened slightly before he wiped the surprise off his face. He was frighteningly good at masking his expressions.

 

He snapped his fingers. “Of course. You fairies wear glamours when you go outside.”

 

Taekwoon nodded. “Otherwise the humans would wonder why my ears were so pointy, you know?” He laughed awkwardly. Taekwoon did a lot of things awkwardly. “And it prevents them from feeling magic if they brush against me.”

 

Hakyeon smiled slightly. “What happens if I touch you?”

 

Taekwoon suspected that Hakyeon knew exactly what would happen, and was asking anyway, but he’d rather think about that than further implications of his question. “Uh, the magic would just flow through you into the ground. Because your body doesn’t have any magic of its own for it to stick to.” Magic was a little like magnets, in that respect. It wouldn’t stay in a body unless the person had magic similar to it. Although opposite magnets repelled, Taekwoon mused. So maybe not the best metaphor.

 

“Can I try anyway,” Hakyeon asked. And it wasn’t really a question, because Hakyeon was used to asking for things and getting them, but Taekwoon wasn’t going to refuse.

 

He extended his hand over the table. Hakyeon swung his legs back to the ground so he could more comfortably lean forward and take Taekwoon’s hand. The vampire’s hand wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t cold either. Just kind of, room temperature. Odd, really, to touch a person who in all regards resembled a human being, and feel something completely different.

 

Taekwoon felt his magic shifting to accommodate the new vessel, a few adventurous sparks flickering over Taekwoon’s fingernails and sinking into Hakyeon’s skin. Hakyeon shivered.

 

“I can feel it…” he whispered, fingers twitching slightly in Taekwoon’s grip. And Taekwoon frowned, because by all accounts Hakyeon should not be feeling anything right now. The little blue wisps of magic should have entered Hakyeon’s undead body, found nothing but incompatible remnants of human magic running through his blood, and passed right into the tile floor beneath them, later to be reabsorbed into Taekwoon’s reservoir.

 

But Hakyeon could feel magic, and so Taekwoon reached out with his senses and followed it. He felt it sluggishly exploring Hakyeon’s body and catching on little bits of magic here and there, places Hakyeon shouldn’t have magic. He felt it call to Hakyeon, like it was returning to a long lost home. Disquieted, Taekwoon released Hakyeon’s hand. Hakyeon flinched as the source of magic cut off abruptly.

 

He flexed his fingers as if to expel the last remaining vestiges of magic in his bloodstream and sat up a little straighter. 

 

“That was odd,” he said.

 

Taekwoon barked a laugh. “That’s a good word for it.” He could still sense his magic reaching towards the vampire sitting across from him. He told it to shut up. It only halfway listened.

 

Hakyeon shook himself lightly as if waking up and clapped his hands together. “Right then! To business. Can I get you a coffee?”

 

“No thank you, I’ve already reached my five cup quota for the day.”

 

Hakyeon raised an eyebrow. “It’s 3 PM.”

 

Taekwoon’s eyes challenged Hakyeon to judge his decisions. The vampire shrugged and took  out a notebook from a bag that lay by his feet. It heavily resembled a purse, but Taekwoon wasn’t going to begrudge a man his fashion choices.

 

Hakyeon flipped quickly through some pages before spinning the notebook around and presenting it to Taekwoon. A list of numbers was written across the top of the page, numbers one through six.

 

“Here’s what we have so far,” Hakyeon said. “One is dead, we found him in the Parliament.” He slashed a line through number one with a red pen. “I know the locations of Two, Three, and Four. We can track down Five, but Six has been off the radar for decades now. Since the war began.”

 

Taekwoon nodded, Hakyeon’s long fingers dragging his eyes across the page.

 

“Two is in the city. I know that for sure, he liked to hang out at that old church over on 5th Ave, what was it called…” Hakyeon snapped his fingers absentmindedly.

 

“St. Patrick’s?” Taekwoon offered.

 

“Yes!” Hakyeon pointed his pen at Taekwoon. “So we can hit St. Patrick’s sometime this week maybe, and then split up to get Three and Four and track down Fve.”

 

“How do we know they’re going to be separated? Maybe they’ll just reconvene somewhere else.”

 

Hakyeon shook his head. “We don’t work like that. One of the Parliamentarians already killed one of their own, they’re not going to be in the same room with the only creatures that can kill them.” He winked. “As far as they know.”

 

Taekwoon ignored the wink to the best of his ability. “Where are the two we know?”

 

Hakyeon took a second to think, sipping his tea thoughtfully. “Three had this lakehouse in Michigan… on the Heron lake, I think it was?”

 

Taekwoon coughed. “Huron?”

 

“Yeah, that one.” Hakyeon waved his pen in distracted circles through the air. “And then Four owned a casino in Las Vegas that I went to a few times. I bet that’s where he’d run to.”

 

With the likelihood of the Parliament reforming incredibly low, this was the best time to mount any kind of attack against them. News of One’s death had gotten out but the vampire’s, in general, didn’t seem to actually care. Taekwoon wondered if the Parliament was aware of exactly how deeply the apathy ran in their subjects.

 

“Four’s going to be the most powerful,” Hakyeon said thoughtfully. “Those LA supernaturals aren’t the most vigilant. Two hasn’t had the pills in his blood long enough to be that affected, but by the time we get to Three he should be pretty starved from isolation up in Michigan.”

 

“And we need to find Five and Six,” Taekwoon commented.

 

“Five shouldn’t be too difficult,” Hakyeon said, the tips of his fangs peeking out over his lips. “Just follow the dead bodies.”

 

Taekwoon sighed. “But Six? No one’s seen the full Parliament together for decades, is he even still alive?”

 

Hakyeon shrugged. “If he shows himself, we’ll deal with it then.”

 

Taekwoon was pretty skeptical about Hakyeon’s half-hearted, deal-with-it-when-it-comes, plan regarding Six. In his experience, things left unplanned for had a tendency of popping up when you least expected it.

 

Hakyeon switched gears, bringing up a photo of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on his phone. “Fuck, I hate gothic architecture,” he groaned. “Think you can take out the cameras with your magic?”

 

“Why do you hate the architecture?” Taekwoon asked. “I thought you’d like the spiky buildings.” He enjoyed the arches and flying buttresses, personally.

 

“Just too… pointy, you know? Like, I own enough knives, I don’t need the buildings stabbing me too.”

 

Taekwoon snorted. Hakyeon never failed to surprise him. “You run enough missions I thought you’d be used to things stabbing you.”

 

Hakyeon flashed him a wink and a flirty grin. “You can stab me whenever you want,” he said, and then added “Not with a knife, though,” like his meaning hadn’t already been clear.

 

Taekwoon coughed, ears burning red. “I can,” he mumbled.

 

Hakyeon choked on his tea, scrambling for a napkin to wipe his mouth before it dripped onto his clothes. “I’m sorry?”

 

“I can take out the cameras,” Taekwoon said louder, face still flushed red.

 

Hakyeon’s eyes cleared in understanding and his smile cemented itself on his lips “Wonderful. We can discuss the rest of the plan with the group later.” He laced his fingers together. “I have exciting things planned, Taek, you have no idea.” His eyes gleamed, and Taekwoon knew exactly how he felt right now. (He was trying his best not to think about the fluttering in his chest that nickname caused. It wasn’t good for his health.)

 

Hakyeon looked forlornly at his empty cup of tea, and then tossed it into the trash, brushing off his pants. “Want to do something fun?” he asked suddenly, catching Taekwoon by surprise.

 

“Fun?” Taekwoon echoed hestitanly. He wasn’t sure he would like whatever Hakyeon’s definition of fun was. It probably involved knives.

 

Hakyeon nodded, a secret smile lighting up his face. He grabbed Taekwoon’s hand and Taekwoon almost had a heart attack right there from the sudden contact. “Let’s go, we’re doing something fun.”

 

Taekwoon had no choice but to follow. He was no match for Hakyeon’s grip, and he didn’t want to resist, anyway.

 

~~~

 

Hakyeon didn’t know the fastest route to the Fae headquarters, so he had to spoil part of the surprise and ask Taekwoon to lead. Taekwoon had glanced at him, confusion in his eyes. ( _ I don’t think work is that fun, Hakyeon. That’s surprising, considering how much time you spend doing it,  _ he’d responded.) But the fairy reluctantly led him back to the office and stood at the base of the building, looking at Hakyeon questioningly.

 

“Why am I back at my office, Hakyeon?” he asked cautiously. A good policy, really. It was best to be cautious around Hakyeon-with-a-plan.

 

Hakyeon grinned. “I bet you just sit in your office all day, don’t you? I bet you walk into this building every morning, go directly to the very top, and stay there for the whole day, yeah?”

 

Taekwoon glared at Hakyeon. But softly. Like a vaguely irritated puppy. “I actually have serious work to do, you know.”

 

Hakyeon waved his hand. Work, it was always about work. Taekwoon needed to loosen up a little. With a light push, he nudged the fairy inside the doors and towards the elevators. “I did some exploring a while back, before one of our secret society meetings.”

 

“You don’t have clearance for any floor but mine,” Taekwoon complained. “How did you get around?”

 

Hakyeon flicked his wrist, exposing a full clearance security guard’s keycard that he definitely shouldn’t have and flashing it by the elevator’s sensors before slipping it back in his jacket. 

 

“I have my ways,” he said mysteriously. 

 

(It hadn’t been hard to filch the card from a guard’s pocket. Fairies got amazingly lazy when they felt safe, and this building was their territory. The poor guard hadn’t been expecting Hakyeon in the slightest. Not that he was harmed. The guard was perfectly safe, albeit slightly confused and facing a $75 penalty for a lost card.)

 

Taekwoon sighed as Hakyen punched the button for the basement and the elevator lurched into motion.

 

“Your elevators need work,” Hakyeon commented.

 

“Your manners need work.”

 

Hakyeon gasped in mock offense. “I’m hurt, Commander.”

 

Taekwoon rolled his eyes and half-heartedly hit Hakyeon on the shoulder.

 

Hakyeon could barely contain the shudder than ran through him at the millisecond of contact. He could still feel the ghost of the magic that sparked through his blood hours ago. It had felt strangely right, as if the magic was meant to be there. Maybe it was his body remembering what it felt like to be human. He didn’t know, but he knew he had to get the reaction under control if he was going to have any chance of completing the activity he had planned.

 

The elevator ground to a stop and the doors slid open slowly. Hakyeon hopped out the doors and threw his arms wide.

 

“May I present, the basement!” he said, voice ringing around the vast room.

 

The basement, Hakyeon had discovered, wasn’t your typical basement. Rather than a dark, dusty room filled with old paper and extra chairs, the Fae basement was a large, modern room, well lit and sparkling with metal racks of equipment. It was a gym, in the same sense that the Titanic was a boat. Rows and rows of weapons lined the walls, shined and sharpened to a deadly gleam. Hakyeon was in heaven.

 

Taekwoon walked a little farther into the room, Hakyeon following close behind. “I knew this was here,” he said. “I’ve just never-”

 

“-Used it?” Hakyeon cut in.

 

“Well, yes,” Taekwoon mumbled. “I’m busy, you know.”

 

Hakyeon laughed, the sound echoing off the walls. They were the only ones here. (Hakyeon would never tell Taekwoon, but he had requested no one else come in for the duration of the afternoon. He didn’t want interruptions.)

 

“It’s ok, Taek. But I thought it’d be fun to get some use out of such a nice room.” He assessed Taekwoon’s face. The fairy was much more comfortable than he sounded, feet moving confidently on the padded flooring. Hakyeon wondered if the affection of nerves was purposeful.

 

“What, you want to exercise or something?” Taekwoon said, dragging his fingers across the hilt of a longsword.

 

There were some very nice elliptical machines in the far corner, but Hakyeon had come here for a different reason.

 

“Fight me,” he said. Taekwoon turned, startled.

 

“Fight you?”

 

Hakyeon nodded. “Yeah. We’ve never actually had a real fight. I want to know what it’s like.”

 

Taekwoon still looked concerned, hand resting against the very real metal of the sword. He glanced at the assorted weapons decorating the walls. “What if I hurt you?”

 

“You can try,” Hakyeon offered, bouncing lightly on the floor. “It’ll be fun.”

 

“Will it be fun? Are you sure?”

 

Hakyeon really, really wanted to spar with Taekwoon. He’d felt the fairy’s magic, the vastness and power behind it, but he wanted to see what it could do without any restraints.

 

He saw Taekwoon’s eyes darken and narrow to a laser like focus. The fairy stepped away from the wall towards the center of the room. “Ok then,” he said, voice still soft but all hesitancy gone. “First to yield?”

 

Hakyeon smiled. His fangs slipped from his beneath his lips and he cracked his neck sharply, pulling a selection of knives off the wall. “First to yield.”

 

Taekwoon shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it on the ground, leaving him in a grey button down and black jeans.

 

Hakyeon raised an eyebrow. “No weapon?”

 

Taekwoon held out his empty hands and a small smile slipped across his lips. The air crackled with electricity and his palms sparked to life, blue curls of smoke rising from his hands.

 

“I have one,” he said.

 

Hakyeon nodded. “You sure as hell do,” he muttered. The magic collecting in the air made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He dropped into a fighting stance, drawing his knives smoothly. (He wish he had his own knives. Maybe one day he would tell Taekwoon why there was a flower on one of them.)

 

Taekwoon remained still, hands swinging loosely by his sides. His eyes were less black now, Hakyeon noticed. Or rather, the pupils were still black, but his dark irises were bleeding blue into the whites of his eyes. The effect was beautifully disturbing. No trace of the glamour from the coffee shop could be seen; the man standing before Hakyeon looked every inch a fairy.

 

With a leap, Hakyeon burst into action, knife flying towards Taekwoon’s chest. Fairies had a plethora of ranged attacks, but became more limited at closer ranges. Getting behind Taekwoon’s guard was Hakyeon’s best bet.

 

Taekwoon’s hands flashed as soon as Hakyeon’s knife left his hand, fingers extended towards the knife. Blue sparks cracked and the knife froze in midair. He flung the knife away with a wave of his hand, sending it point first into the wall. But the knife had been a distraction and suddenly Hakyeon was right behind him, arm around Taekwoon’s neck, left hand holding a knife to his throat.

 

“Too easy,” he hissed in the fairy’s ear, knife kissing his neck.

 

Taekwoon smiled slightly, and his shape flickered. Hakyeon frowned, and suddenly his hands were empty and the fairy smirked at him from across the room, sparks flickering across his face and arms.

 

“Too easy,” he mocked, eyes blue and bright.

 

Hakyeon smelled the scent of the ocean. He tasted salt on his tongue with the force of Taekwoon’s magic. If he listened closely, he imagined he could hear the crashing of waves against white shores. Hakyeon laughed. His blood ran fast with adrenaline and maybe a tiny bit of something else.

 

He flipped the knife in his hand and crouched down, focus narrowing to encapsulate the one person facing him. He cocked his head, waiting for Taekwoon to make the first move.

 

Taekwoon remained still, breathing calmly. And then his fingers twitched and Hakyeon whipped his head over his shoulder to see a wave of magic roaring up the wall behind him, crackling with energy. His eyes widened. “Shit,” Hakyeon hissed, and he sped out of the way of the wall of magic-

 

-right into a wall of invisible stone Taekwoon slammed up mere seconds before, rolling to the ground. He managed to keep hold of his knife, and when he swept to his feet he sent it flying at Taekwoon’s head and followed it at vampire speed, already taking two more knives from his jacket. 

 

Taekwoon barely managed to duck out the knife’s way, hands moving in a blur. Conjured blades of blue energy flashed into existence between his hands and flew at Hakyeon. Hakyeon knocked one out of the air with a well-placed cut, but the second one nicked his shoulder, slicing through his shirt and drawing a bead of blood. His blood sang. He didn’t feel a thing. 

 

Hakyeon sliced the knife in his left hand across Taekwoon’s chest, the fairy managing to block the strike with a sword of blue sparks, held in both hands. He spun away from the vampire and drew the sword back for an overhand blow. Hakyeon caught the sword in his knives and twisted it out of Taekwoon’s hands. The second the sword left his hands it dissipated in a burst of blue smoke.

 

“That all you got, Commander?” Hakyeon asked, breathing hard. He spun his knives in his hands, pressing forward. “Party tricks?”

 

Taekwoon’s eyes narrowed into slits. “I’ll show you fucking party tricks,  _ Captain _ ,” he muttered. Hakyeon stalked forward. Taekwoon took a few steps back and then clapped his hands together.

 

The room plunged into darkness; true darkness, not just the dark of night, that smelled like ocean salt. And Hakyeon could normally see in the dark but this was not normal darkness. He could only barely make out the shape of a man moving through the shadows with ease.

 

Hakyeon closed his eyes and reached out with his other senses. If he concentrated hard enough, he could hear the scratch of Taekwoon’s shoes on the padded floor; he could hear the pop of his magic; he could feel the power emanating from the fairy.

 

A snap of magic whipped across his shoulders in a sudden burst of light, sending him stumbling to the side. He cursed and rolled to his feet, barely dodging the next streak of energy sent snapping at his face. They came from all directions and without warning. Hakyeon cut through the darkness without success, trying to focus on the source of the magic.

 

There, in the corner of the room, to Hakyeon’s left. With steady movements, Hakyeon flipped his knife and threw it towards the source of power.

 

A quiet  _ shit  _ cut through the silence and the darkness evaporated to reveal Taekwoon, hands held in front of his face, Hakyeon’s knife frozen in front of him, the barest point of the knife scraping his palm. A tiny drop of blood fell onto the floor. Hakyeon blinked in the sudden light, attention suddenly fixated on the splash of red.

 

Taekwoon raised his eyes to Hakyeon’s, still gleaming blue. “How could you see me?” he asked. “You shouldn’t be able to see me.”   
  
Hakyeon grinned, lips bloodied from one of the strikes. “I’m just that good,” he said. Taekwoon didn’t need to know that Hakyeon had  _ felt  _ his magic, the source of it, like a field of energy drawing him in, and he didn’t need to give him the time to think about it. Hakyeon bared his fangs and rushed for Taekwoon, catching the fairy off guard and bringing both crashing to the ground, Hakyeon pinning Taekwoon to the floor.

 

Up close, Hakyeon had the advantage. He dropped his knife and grabbed Taekwoon’s hands in his, pressing them into the floor beside his head. The fairy thrashed beneath Hakyeon, but his legs were trapped under Hakyeon’s weight and he couldn’t call his magic with his hands immobilized. Hakyeon snapped his fangs in Taekwoon’s face, a low growl rumbling in his throat. 

 

“Yield,” he hissed. He didn’t know how long he could manage holding the fairy, not when his magic was rushing into his body at all of their many points of contact. Hakyeon’s head spun with magic and sparks and the ocean and he could feel Taekwoon in every part of his body and mind.

 

Taekwoon struggled against his hold, making Hakyeon only more aware his chest and hips pressed against the fairy’s. Hakyeon held Taekwoon tighter, lowering his head to his ear.

 

“Yield,” he said again, “Or…” His voice faded into silence. He hadn’t actually thought that far yet..

 

He felt Taekwoon hesitate under him. “Or what?” The fairy asked, breathless and too curious for his own good.

 

Hakyeon leaned lower still and let his mouth drop open, fangs fully extended. Ever so gently, he let his lips brush Taekwoon’s exposed neck, delicately allowing the edges of his fangs to scrape his skin. The fairy’s pale skin blushed red.

 

Hakyeon raised his head just enough to see Taekwoon’s eyes darken and pupil blow wide, before the fairy’s tongue flicked out to wet his lips.

 

Taekwoon’s lips moved slightly. Hakyeon barely heard him.

 

“What was that?” Hakyeon asked teasingly.

 

 “I yield!” Taekwook said louder, hands flexing in Hakyeon’s hold.

 

With a breathless laugh, Hakyeon released his hands and rolled off onto the fairy. The two lay beside each other, chests rising and falling out of sync.

 

“You can teleport?” Hakyeon asked suddenly.

 

Taekwoon turned his head to face Hakyeon, smiling tiredly. “Not far enough,” he said. “You saw through my cloak.”

 

“Your what?”

 

“The darkness I put on your eyes,” Taekwoon explained. “It wasn’t over the whole room, that would be a lot harder. But you still shouldn’t have been able to see through it.”

 

Hakyeon shrugged, pushing himself into a sitting position with great effort, letting out a groan. Taekwoon remained splayed out on the floor, hair out of place and clothes disheveled. With his dark hair and darker eyes still glowing with residual magic, he looked like a fallen angel. But Taekwoon would never fall, Hakyeon mused. That was impossible.

 

Hakyeon flicked his hair out his eyes and grinned, fangs retracted into abnormally sharp canines. He offered his hand to Taekwoon and pulled them both up. 

 

“I am going to be so sore,” Taekwoon groaned, rolling his neck. “Haven’t done anything like that for a while.”

 

“That’s what she said,” Hakyeon muttered under his breath, so quiet the fairy couldn’t hear. Nevertheless, Taekwoon still tossed him a look.

 

Hakyeon thought about how close he had gotten to kissing the fairy.

 

The sensation of his lips on Taekwoon’s neck still hung in the air, calling to Hakyeon with its infinite possibilities. But until then-

 

He held out his hand, waiting patiently for Taekwoon to take it. He didn’t hesitate.

 

“Let’s get dinner,” Hakyeon said, already pulling the fairy to the elevators.

 

Taekwoon went without complaint. If asked, Hakyeon would go as far as to say he looked happy. And that was all he wanted for him, really. 

  
  


~~~

 

 

Sanghyuk was out. Sanghyuk was doing research on who knows what and therefore Jaehwan was lonely and bored. Taekwoon was on a Not-Date and Jaehwan wanted to come because Hakyeon was great company but he hadn’t wanted to third wheel, and Hongbin and Wonsik were off being domestic boyfriends. So here he was, walking home. Alone. A solo walk. A walk of one person.

 

Jaehwan considered getting a pet. (His apartment didn’t allow pets, but his landlord wouldn’t have to know.)

 

A dog maybe? What good boys. But no, dogs required walking and he didn’t want to wake up at the asscrack of dawn to walk his dog, so that was out. What about a cat, his subconscious provided. Cats… Cats were pretty cool, Jaehwan mused. Quiet, soft, didn’t need walks. But they were notoriously allergic to magic and yowled at fairies.

 

No cats, then.

 

Jaehwan was just considering the perks of lizards (quiet, small, adorable) when someone grabbed his shoulder. And he had a glamour up so no poor human would get shocked, but as he turned around he very quickly realized his assailant wasn’t human.

 

Not at all.

 

An old man, shorter than Jaehwan but no less threatening for it, hovered behind Jaehwan with a leering smile deforming his face. He was wearing a black tuxedo jacket with tails (always a pretentious look) over a pair of jeans. The clashing of period fashion physically hurt Jaehwan’s eyes. A chipped fang extended from his mouth when he opened it.

 

“Just the fairy I have been looking for,” he said, voice oily smooth. His pronunciation was odd; he sounded like he was affecting an American accent and something was just a little off, but Jaehwan couldn’t place it.

 

Jaehwan was a little concerned. Actually he was more than a little concerned at this point, because he tried to pull away and the vampire’s grip only tightened on his shoulder. He looked around, but the sidewalk had suddenly become completely empty.

 

“Um, I think you have the wrong person,” Jaehwan squeaked. His shoulder was starting to hurt.

 

Those icy pale eyes cut into Jaehwan’s. “I don’t think so. I would very much like to speak with you.”

 

“I’d really rather not,” Jaehwan said, loosening his hold on his glamour and letting a bit of his magic leak from his eyes. Sparks jumped at his fingertips.

 

The vampire laughed. It was the sound of Jaehwan’s nightmares, like breaking glass and footsteps in the night and everything in between. “You think your paltry light show scares me, little fairy? I am over seven hundred years old, I have seen things your insignificant mind cannot even imagine.”

 

He snapped his fingers, and Jaehwan gasped in pain as every spark of magic in his body was ripped from his blood. He stumbled to the ground, the pain of his knees hitting the concrete inconsequential next to the emptiness in his chest. He reached for his magic desperately, again and again but the emptiness remained as real as the vampire standing impassively above him, and Jaehwan had never felt so powerless. He couldn’t breathe; his lungs closed and dark spots blinked in and out of focus in front of his eyes. His fingers scrambled for his phone, maybe he could text Sanghyuk, Sanghyuk who had killed a Parliamentarian, but somehow the phone was torn from his pocket and tossed on the sidewalk. A gasping coughed ripped its way from his mouth and he grabbed his throat, chest heaving.

 

And then the vampire sighed and flicked his wrist, and it all came rushing back, every glorious, life-giving drop of his magic returned to his blood and his fingers. It responded when he called and suddenly Jaehwan could breathe again. He took a shuddering breath, coughing.

 

The vampire smiled again, although it never reached his eyes. Jaehwan wondered whether death was preferable.

 

“Would you like to have our conversation now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wowow is that Plot? Poor Jaehwan, I love him and am so sorry... rip :)


	11. Chapter 11

**_Thursday, 1:48 PM (Taekwoon’s Office)_ **

 

Taekwoon called the number listed on the Lotte NY Palace Hotel’s website. The line rang for a few seconds, and then a pleasant female voice answered.

 

“Lotte New York Palace, how may I help you?”

 

“I’d like to reserve a room for two days, one night,” Taekwoon said. “Starting today.”

 

He heard keys tapping, before the lady said, “We have several rooms available. I can offer you our premier room, which has a wonderful city view and one king sized bed?”

 

“Do you have any that face the cathedral?” Taekwoon asked.

 

A momentary pause. More clicking.

 

“Yes I do, starting at $215 a night.”

 

“That’s great, I’d like one of those.” Taekwoon checked over the spell instructions in his lap. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, does your building contain large amounts of iron?”

 

The typing paused for a second.

 

“My apologies, sir, I would have to check with the manager.” The lady sounded incredibly confused. “I can put you on hold?”

 

“Before you go, I have some other questions,” Taekwoon hurried to say.

 

“Of course, sir. Let me just get a pencil…”

 

Taekwoon waited for a minute until the desk agent settled down. God, he was going to sound insane. He shook his head and glanced down at his list.

 

“If possible, I need limited amounts of iron within 53 feet of the room. I also would like it to be more than 70 feet from street level, and contain at least two potted plants of some sort, preferably not any of the cactus family.”

 

He heard a pencil scratch quickly across paper.

 

The agent coughed lightly. “Will that be all, sir?”

 

“... yes.”

 

“I will check with my manager and let you know if this is possible, but in the meantime would you like to reserve a normal room, still facing the cathedral?”

 

“Sure,” Taekwoon replied. He could bring his own plants, he supposed.

 

Some more mouse clicks. “Can I have a name for the reservation, sir?”

 

“Taekwoon Jung.”

 

“And your preferred method of payment?”

 

Taekwoon gave her his work credit information. This was absolutely work.

 

“And is this the best number to call back regarding your… specifications?”

 

She sounded so done. Taekwoon barely held back a laugh. “Yes it is.” 

 

“Thank you very much,” the lady said, not sounding very thankful at all. “Check in begins at 2 PM, and you must be checked out by noon tomorrow. Thank you for calling Lotte New York Palace.”

 

She hung up with a relieved breath.

  
  


**_Thursday, 3:17 PM (St. Patrick’s Cathedral)_ **

 

Hongbin casually inspected the high, arched ceiling of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, eyes roving between columns and hanging lights. It had been easy enough to enhance his already better-than-human eyes, although it would have been easier still for Hakyeon, with his fancy vampire eyes, to come and take a look. But no, today was Hakyeon’s  _ fun day _ , which, as far as Hongbin knew, meant lounging in his apartment bingeing episodes of some cooking show. (Hongbin also learned that Hakyeon’s apartment was rented under the name Bram Stoker, and he normally found the vampire’s little jokes dumb but that was hilarious. Hongbin approved.)

 

But this meant that Hongbin had to wander around a church, something he hadn’t been to in maybe a hundred years, and track down all the cameras, mentally calculating their range based on make and model and then checking for blindspots. He was a scientist; this was Hakyeon’s job. (Hongbin was tempted to spell the vampire’s TV to show nothing but the original 1931 Dracula if Hakyeon pulled this shit again.)

 

The church itself was gorgeous, Hongbin had to admit. The cavernous space was accentuated by high walls and higher ceilings, along with detailed stained glass windows and stone columns. He wasn’t religious but he could still appreciate the architecture and design that went into these feats of architecture.

 

Hongbin had been sure that St. Patrick’s Cathedral didn’t have anything underneath it. None of the plans he’d looked up mentioned any catacombs or underground cellars, but Hakyeon seemed confident that this was where Two would be. ( _ There aren’t any catacombs beneath St. Patrick’s Cathedral, _ Hongbin had said.  _ Yeah there are, _ Hakyeon had replied, smug smile glued to his face.  _ I helped design them _ . A few quick Google searched had in fact proved that the church was renovated mid-2015, and it was perfectly possible that Hakyeon had had a hand in it.) 

 

Multitudes of cameras looked down from the stone walls, he noticed. Hongbin did some quick calculations while seated in one of the many pews. 

 

There would only be one blindspot useful to the mission, he reasoned. Close to the entrance to the catacombs was the Baptistery; two people could squeeze behind the large stone basin and remain unseen by the cameras. Yes, Taekwoon was spelling the cameras, but the spell had to be cast with only those meant to show up on the cameras in frame, meaning Jaehwan and Sanghyuk needed to be out of sight when the spell took effect. Hongbin got up from the pews, almost banging his knee into the one in front.

 

The Baptistery was pretty small, little more than an alcove with the stone basin tucked inside. It was small, but it would suffice, and Jaehwan and Sanghyuk didn’t have any problem snuggling up together anyway. Hongbin nodded curtly and began making his way out of the church, job done. 

 

He crossed the road without waiting for a red light, snapping his fingers in a burst of pale purple. A number of cars swerved to avoid him, to the considerable surprise of the drivers who, in typical New York fashion, had been prepared to run him over and call it natural selection in action. He’d have to come back later tonight to scout for guard rotations, but maybe he’d get Hakyeon to do that part. For how long could anyone realistically watch cooking shows.

 

**_Thursday, 8:49 PM (The Sidewalk of St. Patrick’s Cathedral)_ **

 

Lee Hongbin was the devil in disguise, Hakyeon was convinced.  _ Go scout for guards, Hakyeon. It’ll be easy, Hakyeon. Your cooking show isn’t going anywhere, Hakyeon.  _ Hakyeon mentally apologized to Mary Berry for abandoning her mid episode, but Hongbin was a force of nature and he hadn’t really had a choice.

 

So here Hakyeon was, standing in the sprinkling rain in front of the massive bronze doors of the church, waiting for one of the guards to arrive so he could Ask him about the rotation schedule. He pulled his jacket over his head. Wet hair wasn’t a good look on him.

 

The church closed at 8:45 on Thursdays, and Hakyeon wasn’t that late but he was beginning to suspect that the guards were all very punctual. He considered his options. He could either go home and return tomorrow night, prolonging the whole mission and forcing Taekwoon to reschedule his hotel room with that poor desk clerk, or he could sacrifice his dignity and get the job done right now.

 

Hakyeon sighed and resigned himself to his fate.

 

With swift movements he tugged the jacket off his head and allowed his hair to drip down over his eyes. After a few seconds, he deemed he looked pitiful enough.

 

Hakyeon schooled his face into a suitably supplicant expression and banged on the large bronze doors a few times.

 

No one answered. He waited a few seconds and then repeated the action. Guards working in a church had to be good Christians, right? House of God and all that.

 

This time one of the smaller doors to Hakyeon’s left opened slowly and a man stepped out, squinting into the rain.

 

Hakyeon hurriedly stepped forward, making sure to use small, mincing steps.

 

“Sir, please, is the church open for prayer right now?” he asked, hands pressed together in front of his chest. “Please, my mother just passed, and-” Hakyeon choked on his words, “-Would you please allow me to just sit in the pews… just for a few minutes... “

 

Hakyeon allowed a tear to slip from his eye. He sniffled a bit for good measure. Maybe it was over the top, but the man seemed to have fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker. He glanced back inside, exchanging some quiet words with his partner that Hakyeon wasn’t meant to hear but totally could.

 

“Poor guy’s mom just died and he really wants to pray, can I let him in?”

 

“I don’t know, does he look suspicious?”

 

A pause. The guard glanced back at Hakyeon. “No, not really. Just kind of a skinny Chinese guy, you know?” Hakyeon inwardly grimaced.

 

“I guess it’s ok then. Just don’t let the admins know.”

 

The guard stepped aside, gesturing for Hakyeon to enter.

 

Hakyeon thanked the guard and rushed to a pew at the back, one with a good view of the whole church. This was all turning out wonderfully.

 

Hakyeon located the Baptistery Hongbin had told him about while he watched the guards move about the cathedral. They walked in pairs, and there were only two pairs walking about currently, on what seemed like a ten minute circuit.

 

Hakyeon watched the crypt, under which the entrance to the catacombs lay. Once the first pair of guards walked past, he started counting under his breath.

 

He’d just hit five minutes when the second pair, the one with the racist guard, walked past. That wasn’t too bad, Hakyeon thought. Five minutes to get from the Baptistery to the crypt would work fine. He nodded in satisfaction and stood up.

 

Smiling his thanks to the racist guard and making sure to add the tiniest bit of fang, Hakyeon quietly opened the small side door and slipped out into the still raining night.  _ I’m on my way, Mary Berry. _

  
  


**_Friday, 4:53 (Lotte New York Palace Hotel)_ **

 

Wonsik hung out in the hotel lobby as Taekwoon ensured the room was up to his weird magical standards. Magic, Taekwoon had told him, needed a special environment, especially the kind of complex spell he was going to cast. So Wonsik sat on the fancy leather couch, arms wrapped around a large fern. Plants, it seemed, were important. Magic batteries or something.

 

The fern smelled nice, at least.

 

Taekwoon met his eyes and nodded with a sharp jerk of his head. Wonsik hurried over, plant bobbing up and down.

 

“Is the room ok?” he asked over the leaves of the fern.

 

Taekwoon hummed. “They’re charging me a lot extra, but it should be fine. The desk clerk said they don’t know how much iron is in the infrastructure of the building, but hopefully there’ll be enough plants to hold me over.”

 

Wonsik pretended like he understood. Hongbin didn’t really use that much magic, to be honest. Or at least not the high powered spells Taekwoon was partial to. Hongbin tended to work with intricate layers of magic, one on top of the other, until he had webs of energy that resembled nothing but beautifully tangled nets to Wonsik but seemed to reveal infinite secrets under the fairy’s deft fingers.

 

The vampire sidestepped into the elevator, plant held securely in front of him. He managed to see Taekwoon press the button for the forty-second floor over the large leaves. 

 

The hallways were long and silent, their footsteps muffled in the thick carpet. Taekwoon unlocked the door.

 

The room looked pretty normal, albeit with a few limp potted plants shoved into assorted corners. Wonsik peeked into the bathroom and found a large bush occupying the shower.

 

Taekwoon stood in the approximate middle of the room and closed his eyes, hands twitching loosely at his sides. He breathed deeply. 

 

“This will work,” he said. “There’s a bit of iron, but I can work with that if I adjust with these plants here…”

 

His voice trailed off as he started moving plants around the room. Wonsik watched silently for a few seconds before setting his fern beside a bonsai plant and lying down on one of the two beds. He checked his phone, the group chat renamed Ocean’s Eleven Minus Five, courtesy of Sanghyuk (proving he could do some math at least), but there were no new messages. Taekwoon would let him know if he needed anything.

 

He took the earpieces that Hongbin had handed him out of his pocket and placed them on the counter. Hongbin had been able to take a bluetooth wireless earbud and turn it into a noise muffling device that could pick up sub vocalizations from the wearer. He had very loudly made it clear to everyone that they were untested, as he did not have any handy Parliamentarians to use it on, but that they should theoretically cancel out any of the Speech Two used. (Wonsik was very proud of his… flat-mate. Because they hadn’t had The Talk yet. The one where they defined the relationship. You could only live/sleep/make-out with someone for a certain period of time before titles came into play.)

 

Taekwoon eyed the kitchenette before reaching into one of the cabinets and bringing out a small pan. He handed it to Wonsik.

 

“Can you give this to the hotel staff, please? Too much iron.”

 

Wonsik furrowed his brow. “What, like walk downstairs with the pan and just hand it to the front desk?”

 

Taekwoon shrugged. “Yeah? I don’t know.” He went back to his plants. The room smelled faintly of salt. Wonsik coughed.

 

“It smells like a Bath and Body Works candle in here,” Wonsik said, nose wrinkling.

 

Taekwoon frowned. “What do you mean?”

 

Wonsik sighed and left the offending pan outside the door, wishing he could be in his own shared apartment. Hongbin smelled so nice, all lavender and floral notes. He settled down on one of the beds. This would be a long night.

  
  


**_Friday, 8:33 (St. Patrick’s Cathedral)_ **

 

Hongbin stepped through the large bronze doors for the second time in twenty-four hours, but this time with Hakyeon, Jaehwan, and Sanghyuk by his side. Admission was free and there wasn’t any service going on, so they were allowed to just wander the church with the rest of the tourists. There hadn’t been metal detectors at the door. Hongbin didn’t want to know how many knives Sanghyuk was carrying right now. Probably an obscene amount.

 

Hongbin fidgeted with the earbuds in his pocket. Butterflies somersaulted in his chest. He wasn’t used to running missions like this. Sanghyuk and Hakyeon seemed perfectly at ease, bantering happily on the side, and even Jaehwan looked comfortable, hands in his pockets. But Hongbin was a scientist. He wasn’t a field agent, he wasn’t meant to be out here, pretending to be someone he wasn’t. Wonsik got to hang out in the fancy hotel room while he had to be here, being the distraction. Fortunately, he would be able to leave soon.

 

The church wasn’t that busy; that was good, considering what Hakyeon was going to do next.

  
  


**_Friday, 8:41 (St. Patrick’s Cathedral)_ **

 

The announcement rang through the church: “The cathedral will be closing soon, please collect your belongings and begin making your way outside. Thank you for visiting.”

 

Hakyeon checked his watch. Almost time. With a sharp nod, Jaehwan and Sanghyuk pulled away from the group and begin walking slowly towards the Baptistery. Hongbin brought his hands out of his pockets and rubbed them together. The air began to smell faintly of lavender.

 

Hakyeon’s watched changed to 8:42. A guard, different than the ones on the night shift, headed towards them.

 

“I’m sorry, sir, but you have to leave now-”

 

Sanghyuk’s voice came through the earpiece clearly. “There’s a problem, turn that guard away from the Baptistery,” he said quickly, sounding panicked.

 

Hakyeon plastered an easy smile on his face. “Oh my gosh, I’m  _ so  _ sorry, I completely lost track of time!” He grabbed the guard’s shoulder. The guard, in a state of shock, allowed Hakyeon to turn him around so his back was to the Baptistery. Hakyeon gave Hongbin a quick nod before turning his attention back to the confused guard.

 

“Don’t you just  _ love  _ the stained glass there? I find that the images of Peter and Paul just resonate deep in my soul, don’t you?”

 

With the guard’s attention on Hakyeon and his tirade on stained glass, Hongbin snapped his fingers, short-circuiting the camera aimed at him for a split five seconds. In that time, his hands moved rapidly into complex configurations, muttering the words to the spell under his breath. Taekwoon might be able to do fancy non-verbal magic, but Hongbin still found it easier to say the words. Why make things harder for himself.

 

Hongbin tuned out the conversation happening through the earpiece. He needed to concentrate on his magic, goddamnit.

 

By the time the camera came back to life and the guard extracted himself from Hakyeon’s rant, convincing replicas of Jaehwan and Sanghyuk stood by Hongbin’s side. They quickly turned and made their way to the exit. It wouldn’t do for the guard to inspect them closely.

 

“I’m really sorry,” the guard said, looking a little flustered, “But I need you guys to leave. The church is closing for tonight.”

 

“Of course, of course,” Hakyeon said, winning smile on his lips. “We understand.”

 

Hongbin didn’t glance once towards the Baptistery as the flustered guard ushered them out the doors. Hakyeon’s watch beeped 8:45.

  
  


**_Friday, 8:42 (Lotte New York Palace Hotel, Room 4215)_ **

 

Taekwoon sat down in his circle of plants and closed his eyes. The spell was a complex one; it needed exactly 3 minutes to warm up, so he had to start now if he wanted to spell the cameras by 8:45, the agreed upon time.

 

The spell was an old one. He didn’t know to whom it was accredited, but he silently congratulated them on such a refined, technical piece of work. Taekwoon was a sucker for well made spells.

 

Hakyeon had first wanted an invisibility spell, but that required the fairy to be touching the recipients at all times, and that would be difficult to maintain, especially in an old church covered in iron and without any extra energy to draw from. So instead, the spell Taekwoon was using was a preservation spell; it was placed on the whole church and ensured that everything continued to look the way it had looked when the spell was initially placed. The hardest part had been forcing the spell to ignore the moving guards, but with enough energy, it was doable.

 

That was where all the plants came in. Taekwoon, with the help of the plants, would be able to hold the spell for two hours.

 

Wonsik spoke up. “One minute and counting.”

 

Taekwoon took a deep breath and brought his hands together. An ocean breeze wafted in through the open window looking out over the church.

 

“Go.”

  
  


**_Friday, 8:41 (St. Patrick’s Cathedral)_ **

 

Hakyeon nodded the go ahead and Sanghyuk grabbed Jaehwan’s arm, walking nonchalantly towards the blindspot in the Baptistery. He felt at ease. It had been a while since he’d run a mission, but he found himself falling into the calming headspace easily. Jaehwan, however, seemed tense. Sanghyuk couldn’t help but wonder why.

 

The Baptistery was tucked away in an alcove on the side on the Cathedral, partially hidden in shadow. Which was why, at first, Sanghyuk didn’t see the problem.

 

“Hyuk,” Jaehwan hissed. And then more forcefully, “Sanghyuk. There’s a gate!”

 

There was, in fact, a metal gate closed in front of the alcove. It proved to be locked.

 

Sanghyuk cursed and looked behind them. A guard was approaching, and if he got any closer he might see them hiding in the shadows. “There’s a problem,” he said, hoping Hakyeon was listening. “Turn that guard away from the Baptistery.”

 

He didn’t wait to see if Hakyeon had heard. They had to get into the blindspot before Taekwoon killed the cameras, which he would do at exactly 8:45. There wasn’t any way to change times at this point, he’d probably already begun the initiation process. 

 

Sanghyuk inspected the lock on the gate. It didn’t look too bad, fortunately. He fished his lock-picking tools out of his back pocket.

 

Jaehwan snorted. “You carry lock-picks around with you?”

 

“Aren’t you glad,” Sanghyuk muttered, pin between his teeth. He maneuvered one into the lock, listening for the click.

 

“Go faster,” Jaehwan whispered, nudging his shoulder. “We literally have like, two minutes.”

 

“Why don’t you fucking magic the lock then, dumbass?” This wasn’t working, it wasn’t the right pin. Did he even have the right tool with him?

 

“Because I don’t know how to pick locks, how am I meant to tell the magic how to pick a lock, silly vampire.”

 

Sanghyuk yanked his pin out of the lock and tried a different one. He heard Hakyeon regaling the guard with tales of his stained glass expertise. This pin didn’t seem to be working either. His fingers shook with nerves and adrenaline. 

 

“Jaehwan, shut up for a second and get me the other pin from my pocket.” 

 

Thin fingers reached into his back pocket. Sanghyuk suspected he was feeling for more than just a lockpick.

 

“Now, Jaehwan,” he said. Jaehwan laughed quietly and pressed the pick into his palm.

 

With quick movements, Sanghyuk wiggled the pin into the lock and at last heard the tell-tale click of a lock snapping open. He shoved open gate, noticing traces of mint magic whispering around the hinges, muffling any rusty squeaks. He glanced at Jaehwan, surprised.

 

The fairy frowned. “I do kind of know what I’m doing,” he complained. Behind them, Sanghyuk made out the shapes of Hongbin and Hakyeon disappearing out the front door.

 

Sanghyuk grabbed Jaehwan’s arm and the two ducked behind the large stone basin, squeezing themselves into the tight space just as Sanghyuk’s phone buzzed. 8:45. 

  
  


**_Friday, 8:48 (St. Patrick’s Cathedral)_ ** ****__  
  


Jaehwan felt sick. He felt physically, actually sick, which was impossible. He was a fairy. And yet his stomach was turning over on itself and bile collected on his tongue with every passing minute. Even Sanghyuk’s body pressed against his didn’t help.

 

If anything, it made it worse.

 

(He wasn’t sure if the pain came from the knowledge of what happened or the foreboding of what was to come. Maybe some of both. He barely contained his flinch at the memory of that dead smile bringing dead magic.)

 

Sanghyuk tugged at his arm.

 

“Come on,” he hissed. “The spell is up, we need to be at the crypt between now and,” he looked at his phone, “8:53.”

 

Jaehwan stood up, fixing a grin on his face. “Easy peasy. The crypt’s like, ten feet away.”

 

Wonsik’s voice came through the open line. “Make sure to keep moving, guys. The spell will overlook anything that came in after the initiation as long as you keep moving.”

 

Sanghyuk nodded, and then realized no one could see him nod. “Got it.”

 

Jaehwan almost laughed. (He would’ve, if he hadn’t felt like he was about to throw up.)

 

The crypt was a little more than ten feet away, but it turned out that distance wasn’t the problem. Jaehwan cursed as he tugged the tablecloth aside to reveal the small entrance.

 

“There’s a spell on this.”

 

Sanghyuk groaned softly. “Why does nothing go the way we plan.”

 

Jaehwan crouched down, running his hands over the latch. “I can handle this,” he said. “I just need some time.”

 

It wasn’t a hard spell, actually. Just a long one. And the three minutes they had left before a pair of guards came within eyesight of them was not enough time.

 

Hands running through the motion of the spell, Jaehwan said, “I need time. Someone do something.”

 

Faint green light fluttered around the small latch. Sanghyuk looked around, obviously distressed.

 

“I can’t do anything,” he said. “We need to stay together, I don’t know what I can do-”

 

Wonsik’s voice cut him off. “I can handle this,” he said.

 

Jaehwan frowned. What was the baby vampire planning on doing? But then the door rebuffed his attempts and-

 

“Shit Hongbin, what’s that Norwegian unlocking spell that you told me a while back?”

 

As Hongbin walked him through the steps to the spell, a loud bang shot through the silent church. Shouts rang up from the guards and they all rushed towards the large bronze doors in a stampede of footsteps. Another loud bang.

 

Sanghyuk laughed incredulously. “Are you throwing  _ rocks  _ at the doors?”

 

“I am,” Wonsik said.

 

A sharp laugh came through the line. Hongbin.

 

By the time the guards had made it out the doors, Jaehwan suspected Wonsik would be long gone. But it had bought him the time he needed, and the door unlocked with a quiet click. The door was just large enough for Jaehwan to slip his body through, feet scrambling to find a foothold. The space was much to tight for wings.

 

He found the rungs of a ladder and descended into darkness, watching as Sanghyuk wriggled in after him.

 

The tablecloth fell back over the entrance and the little trap door swung shut silently. Sanghyuk laughed quietly.

 

“Well that wasn’t too bad, was it?”

 

Jaehwan disagreed. It was about to get so much worse.

  
  


**_Friday, 9:03 (The Catacombs Beneath St. Patrick’s Cathedral)_ **

 

Jaehwan hated tunnels. They were small and damp and smelled vaguely of dead animals. This one, though, wasn’t too bad as far as tunnels go. The walls were packed dirt but the floor was lined with rough brick, so Jaehwan’s boots weren’t getting dirty.

 

The ladder had taken them down fairly far; Jaehwan estimated they were anywhere from ten to twenty feet beneath the church. It was a pretty terrifying thought. Fairies were resilient, but twenty feet of falling rock and stone would crush any creature into a mess of goo. Jaehwan didn’t want to die that way.

 

(He didn’t want to die at all, and he didn’t want anyone else to die, either. No one would die, he kept telling himself. He made the right choice.  _ No one would die _ .)

 

He held the ball of pale green light aloft, illuminating the tunnel a little more. Sanghyuk winced.

 

“That hurts my eyes,” he complained. “I can see fine in the dark.”

 

“Yeah, well I can’t, so suck it up, my undead buddy.” Jaehwan winked in a pale imitation of his normal self. “Pun intended.”

 

“There’s a fork here,” Sanghyuk said. “Do you think we should go left or right?”

 

A crunching sound hit his eardrums.

 

“Is someone eating fucking chips right now?” Sanghyuk cursed.

 

More crunching, and then Hakyeon’s voice. “Sorry.” He did not sound at all sorry.

 

“Left or right?” Sanghyuk repeated.

 

Jaehwan shrugged. Hongbin sighed. He could tell it was Hongbin because it was the kind of long suffering sigh you only made when you knew you were smarter than everyone else. An intellectual elitist sigh.

 

“Just start making some noise and he’ll find you,” Hongbin said. “There’s no reason you need to find Two first. It’s not like you’d have an element of surprise if you did.”

 

That was a good point. Why hadn’t Jaehwan thought of that?

 

(Maybe it was because his mind was a tangled mess of promises he’d broken and promises he’d made, and he didn’t know which ones were even worth anything anymore. But everytime he reached for his magic and it responded, a little part of him felt incrementally better.)

 

Sanghyuk hesitated, and then ripped a brick from the ground. Jaehwan raised an eyebrow at the show of strength. The vampire drew his arm back and then threw the brick at the ground about five feet away. The resulting crash made Jaehwan flinch back and grab Sanghyuk’s arm.

 

The clatter of smaller pebbles filled the tunnel. Jaehwan looked around nervously.

 

Sanghyuk sighed. “Well, you want to go left or right, Jaehwan?”

 

Jaehwan wanted to go up. He wanted to leave the catacombs and the dirt walls and the looming presence of a vampire who had unimaginable powers and could take his away with a snap of his fingers. But he lifted his arm and pointed down the left tunnel anyway.

 

“Good a choice as any,” Sanghyuk muttered. Jaehwan’s hand stayed on his arm.

  
  


**_Friday, 9:44 (The Catacombs Beneath St. Patrick’s Cathedral)_ **

 

They were half out of time, Sanghyuk realized, and they hadn’t even found Two yet. He felt like he was walking in circles. Hakyeon kept eating chips loudly. He wanted to murder him, but he would settle for Two. If they ever found him.

 

Jaehwan had gripped onto his shoulder maybe half an hour ago and then never let go. Sanghyuk was fine with it, in fact he enjoyed the contact, but it wasn’t like the fairy to be this scared of a vampire. Sure, the vampire was old and could Speak, but they had protection against that. He trusted Hongbin’s tech. It would work.

 

Come to think of it, Jaehwan had been acting weirdly all night. He was jumping at little sounds and not laughing things off like he used too. Even his pun about Sanghyuk “sucking it up” had been accompanied by a farce of his usual bright smile.

 

Maybe he was sick? But fairies didn’t get sick… Sanghyuk was concerned.

 

“Are you sick?” he asked casually.

 

Jaehwan started, hand leaving Sanghyuk’s arm. (Sanghyuk missed the contact.) “What? No. Fairies can’t get sick.” But he looked almost guilty as he said it.

 

Sanghyuk shrugged. If Jaehwan was feeling weird, he’d tell Sanghyuk about it if it concerned him. If not, he trusted the fairy to not let it interfere with the mission.

  
  


**_Friday, 10:09 (The Catacombs Beneath St. Patrick’s Cathedral)_ **

 

Suddenly the tunnels weren’t empty anymore. Jaehwan could feel it. He could feel magic, unlike any magic he’d felt before. (Except in the presence of the vampire with the crooked fang, but he didn’t like thinking about that.)

 

The magic was wrong. Twisted beyond recognition. Dead.

 

Jaehwan shuddered. The earpiece crackled and popped.

 

“I feel him,” he whispered. Sanghyuk whipped his head around, hands dropping to his knives.

 

“You do?” Jaehwan nodded. “Where is he?”

 

And then the magic was all around them, encapsulating them, and Jaehwan wanted to drop to his knees and cover his face.

 

“He’s close-”

 

Sanghyuk dropped to the ground as a dark shape cut through the space his head had been a second before. Jaehwan watched a dagger embed itself into the dirt wall behind him.

 

Sanghyuk cursed. “Light the place up, Jaehwan!”

 

Jaehwan was glad Sanghyuk phrased it like an order because his hands were shaking so much he didn’t think he’d respond to anything else. He clapped his hands together and bright light flashed throughout the small chamber they were in.

 

At the far end crouched Two.

 

He was tall and slim, grey hair just barely holding onto his scalp. He held a wickedly long knife in his left hand. If it weren’t for the bloodlust in his eyes, Jaehwan would have found the sight comical.

 

Two screeched as the light hit his eyes, incredibly sensitive from being in the darkness for so long. His head whipped side to side like a snake tasting the air. “I’m starving,” he hissed. His voice rasped across Jaehwan’s skin like sandpaper.

 

Sanghyuk crouched lower into the fighting stance Jaehwan was so familiar with. “Back me up,” he called, before launching himself at the Parliamentarian.

 

To be honest, Jaehwan’s memory of the fight was cloudy at best. A combination of fear and guilt and horror kept his mind from thinking straight. He remembered Sanghyuk shouting at him. He remembered Sanghyuk calling for backup. He remembered freezing at an important moment, hands hovering uselessly in the air as the terror of his magic disappearing reared its ugly head again. (It never happened; Two either didn’t choose to or didn’t have the ability to steal magic.) He remembered blood streaming down Sanghyuk’s arms, dripping off his fingers and painting his nails and the dirt under him rust red.

 

He remembered Two opening his mouth and Speaking, but Jaehwan didn’t hear any of it, and the resulting gratitude he felt towards Hongbin was overwhelming.

 

He remembered Sanghyuk pinning Two to the ground, knife stabbed through the vampire’s atrophied arm, hands around his throat.

 

He remembered Two meeting his eyes as he stood in the shadows.    
  


“Haven’t been very useful yet, have you, fairy?” Two coughed out between bloodied teeth, before Sanghyuk drove his knife into the vampire’s skull.

 

Sangyhuk dug out a lighter from his pocket and flicked it on. As he wiped the blood from his face and watched the second Parliamentarian die at last, he looked at Jaehwan.

 

“What did Two mean, haven’t been useful yet?”

 

Jaehwan managed a casual shrug. “He’s a senile old man,” he said. “I have no idea.”

 

Sanghyuk met his eyes and frowned. “Hakyeon,” he called. “We got him.” There was no answer. Jaehwan remembered the static when Two had arrived.

 

“I think Two might have blown out our comms.”

 

“You’re probably right,” Sanghyuk muttered. “Everything about those vampires suck, huh.”

 

If Jaehwan hadn’t been so rattled, he would’ve found the pun amusing.

 

Sanghyuk wiped his hand on his pants and took out his phone. His eyes widened. “Oh shit, Jaehwan. It’s 11.”

  
  


**_Friday, 10:43 (Lotte New York Palace Hotel, Room 4215)_ **

 

Taekwoon sat, shaking, in the middle of the hotel room. Frankly, Wonsik was worried for his health. His pale skin seemed even more sickly and translucent in the dim lighting, and brown leaves flaked off the plants surrounding him.

 

His palms remained face up in his lap, although his fingers were vibrating with an intensity that couldn’t be natural. The room that had started off smelling pleasantly of the ocean now smelled overly salty and a bit like spoiled fish. Wonsik wrinkled his nose.

 

“Taekwoon,” he whispered, nudging a nearby plant with his toe. “You’ve reached the time limit.”

 

Jaehwan and Sanghyuk weren’t out of the catacombs yet, but Taekwoon had to stop now or he would actually hurt himself. And there was no word coming through the line; something had happened to the signal. Maybe it was the tunnels, maybe it was something else.

 

Regardless, the plants were gone; any energy Taekwoon used now would be the last vestiges of his own.

 

Wonsik crouched down and grabbed Taekwoon’s hands. “Taekwoon, you need to stop now.”

 

Taekwoon’s eyes were open but glazed over. He seemed to be looking right through Wonsik, eyes fixed on the cathedral.

 

“Taekwoon!” Wonsik said, more urgently now, before a loud banging at the door made him flinch.

 

He tossed a look at the fairy before going to look through the door’s peephole. Hakyeon stood outside, anxiously shifting his weight from side to side.

 

Wonsik opened the door and Hakyeon rushed into the hotel room without even a thank you. He kneeled down by Taekwoon’s side and gently enfolded his hands in his own.

 

“Taek,” Hakyeon whispered. “I need you to stop, please. You’re hurting yourself.”   
  
Taekwoon remained silent, eyes glowing that eerie blue. Hakyeon gave him a little shake.

 

Wonsik glanced nervously at his watch. 10:47. Already over the time limit.

 

“Wake up, Taekwoon!” Hakyeon said, grasping the fairy’s hands tightly. “Wake the  _ hell _ up.” 

 

Hakyeon hesitated, and for a second Wonsik thought he had been about to slap the fairy, but then Hakyeon moved closer and ever so lightly brushed his lips across Taekwoon’s cheek.

 

“Please,” he whispered, and Wonsik could barely hear what he was saying. “You’re so kind and so generous but you can’t be generous with your life. I won’t allow it.”

 

And the room that had smelled like dead fish and stale salt slowly freshened to an ocean breeze so real Wonsik swore he could feel it ruffling hair. Taekwoon’s hands relaxed in Hakyeon’s grip and his eyes cleared. The last few leaves of Wonsik’s fern hit the carpet. The spell ended. (Wonsik’s watch read 10:53.)

 

Taekwoon blinked. “Did you… kiss me?”

 

“Uh,” Hakyeon stumbled over his words. “Only a little bit.” He offered the fairy a little smile. “Sorry for not, like, getting consent or something-”

 

The vampire’s voice cut off suddenly as Taekwoon leaned forward and crushed his lips to Hakyeon’s, holding his hands so tightly his fingertips were turning white. Hakyeon’s eyes widened in shock and then slipped closed as he pressed closer to the fairy with a soft sound.

 

Wonsik quietly slipped out of the room.

  
  


**_Saturday, 12:03 AM (St. Patrick’s Cathedral Gift Shop)_ **

 

Sanghyuk had made a bad decision, he admitted that. So if Jaehwan could stop glaring at him and waving his cuffed hands around and just let Sanghyuk  _ think,  _ that would be wonderful.

 

They had gone overtime, that was obvious. Taekwoon wouldn’t have the spell up anymore, so they couldn’t go back the way they came. The only solution had been to go forward and hope there was a back door.

 

Good news, there was.

 

Bad news, the tunnels came out into the St. Patrick’s Cathedral Gift Shop across the street. Which was currently closed, at midnight on a Saturday.

 

So now Jaehwan was in the process of being cuffed as Sanghyuk tried to explain that they had just  _ really wanted those rosary beads, officer _ , putting in all the Speech he could. It wasn’t working, mostly because he was so exhausted by that point he couldn’t form a sentence, and Jaehwan was dead on his feet. 

 

The fairy hadn’t been well during the skirmish with Two, and Sanghyuk was smart enough to know it wasn’t due to lack of skill. The terror he’d glimpsed in Jaehwan’s eyes mirrored the fear he saw in Hakyeon’s whenever his job took him near bonfires.

 

The thing was, Two was the first Parliamentarian Jaehwan had seen. So there must be something else that triggered it. Sanghyuk just didn’t know what it was.

 

The officer wasn’t taking the bait, which sucked. Because the second they went to jail and it was discovered that all their forms of ID dated from over one hundred years ago, in Jaehwan’s case, things would very quickly go up in flames.

 

“Hands behind your back,” the taller officer said, grabbing Sanghyuk by the shoulders. He considered trying to fight back, but decided against it. It would only make things worse. He crossed his wrists behind his back and the officer unclipped a pair of cuffs from his belt. 

And then the little bell over the door jingled and their savior walked through in the form of Lee Hongbin, waving an NYPD badge and strutting around like he owned the place.

 

With an official sounding cough and a winning smile, he said “I’m sorry, officers, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’ve been told to take over from here.”

 

He layered his words with a bit of magic, not enough to cause suspicion but enough to make the police pay a little more attention. Humans were so easy to convince.

 

“Of course,” the taller one said, letting go of Sanghyuk’s arms. The cuffs dangled from one wrist. “Here’s the key to the cuffs that one has on…” He handed over the key and left the gift shop, giving Honbin a little salute.

 

“Have a good night,” the second one called as she walked out. Sanghyuk heard her mutter under her breath as she left. “Didn’t want this one anyway. Bloody idiots robbing a church gift shop. Rosary beads, my ass.”

 

Hongbin crossed his arms and let the NYPD illusion melt away. “Well?” he asked, tossing Sanghyuk the key.

 

Sanghyuk grinned as he unlocked Jaehwan’s cuffs and tore the single cuff off his own wrist with a sharp snap of metal. The fairy rubbed his wrists. “Burned to a crisp,” the vampire said, running his tongue over the sharp points of his fangs.

 

Hongbin smiled, eyes flashing purple. “Two down.”

 

“Four to go.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a bitch to figure out tbh,,, but i think it worked out? if anyone's read Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, she has some A+ heist scenes. Hope everything made sense! Thanks for reading :)


	12. Chapter 12

 

Three days after Two’s death, Hakyeon’s lips still tingled. (And he didn’t think this was a side effect of any of the fairy’s magic; Hakyeon was just a very emotional person, ok?)

 

When he thought Taekwoon wasn’t looking he’d run his fingers over his mouth and inspect them just in case there were any vestigial sparks clinging to his lips. There never were, but Hakyeon swore he could still taste salt.

 

Honestly, Hakyeon was a little confused. For as far as he could remember (over one hundred years) he and Taekwoon had stayed a socially acceptable distance from each other; a work relationship, one could say. And yet, somehow, Taekwoon had always managed to sneak into his life like the fairy was the spy.

 

Taekwoon, for his part, was doing his best to avoid the vampire. A difficult task, considering the two were sharing a hotel room about a half hour out from Detroit, Michigan in a tiny town by the name of Eastpointe.

 

The team, as Hakyeon was fond of calling them, had split two days ago based on the idea that the faster they moved, the less time the other Parliamentarians would have to eat people. So far, a few scattered reports had come in from the locations Hakyeon had guessed the Parliamentarians would go, complaining about drained fairies and vampires (as well as the occasional were-creature) turning up on the streets, throats ripped open. They weren’t trying very hard to lay low. Still no leads on the Six, however. 

 

Hakyeon rolled over in bed. They’d gotten into Detroit fairly late and Taekwoon had gone straight to sleep. On the arranged schedule (because Jaehwan was apparently a control freak and needed to know) Hakyeon was meant to run some reconnaissance on the lake house tonight and attack hours later, but looking at Taekwoon’s exhausted form, still recuperating from the amount of magic used in such a short period of time, Hakyeon decided he’d go off script. The town was small and cute, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a little vacation before shit went sideways, as it tended to do.

 

He could count the number of conversations he’d had with the fairy since That Evening on one hand, and none were about the elephant in the room. Many times Hakyeon had been tempted to bring it up, but Taekwoon always seemed a little uncomfortable. He sighed and set his phone down on the bedside table, before rolling onto his back and closing his eyes. He’d ask Taekwoon in the morning.

 

Hakyeon blinked his eyes slowly, breath rattling through his chest that felt so unnaturally still. He was looking up, up, up into the night sky pierced by New York skyscrapers with pinpoints of stars barely peeking through, struggling to shine through the thick darkness. He shuddered and glanced down at his body, eyelids weakly fluttering at the sight of his blood soaked hands, so very red, as red as the police siren shrieking by but never seeing Hakyeon, as red as-

 

-the blood moon, looking down upon the odd sight of a vampire wrapped in the embrace of a fairy, red staining lips and hands and wrists, tasting of iron and magic and salt, and the fairy’s pale hair, blond at the time, was painted with streaks of orange and red and gold-

 

-fire. Fire, roaring and crackling and burning, and Hakyeon could still hear the screams that were almost, but not quite, stifled by the strength of the woman- no, not a woman anymore- writhing in the red light, tongues of heat that did nothing but make Hakyeon feel so, so cold-

 

-cold like the eyes of those who sit in the dusty museum, collecting dust and death in the corners and under floorboards, cold like the smile of those who had taken from him and from whom he would now take what little life remained in the stone they called a heart-

 

-and a heart was a terrible thing to turn to stone, but Hakyeon feared that he would have to watch as the petrification crept up his legs and fingers and arms and chest, wrapping around his neck and suffocating, choking the life- not life but close enough- from his eyes before touching his heart and freezing him where he stood, blades ringing off the harsh surface in showers of

 

-sparks, sparks that had ignited in his chest and in his blood with the appearance of a young fairy who smelled like the ocean and walked like a god, and whose voice sounded like-

  
“Hakyeon.”

 

-salty wind and coarse sand and crashing waves and burning fire, no, cold fire, red fire, red moon, red blood, streaking hands and lips and sky, city lights, stars-

 

“Hakyeon! Wake up.”

 

Hakyeon blinked blearily into Taekwoon’s eyes. He tried to raise his hand to move his hair out of his face but found his body trapped in a tangled cocoon of blankets.

 

“You were thrashing around,” Taekwoon explained, helping to free Hakyeon’s arms. “Bad dream?”

 

Hakyeon frowned, trying to remember. “Of a sort.”

 

Taekwoon nodded thoughtfully.

 

“Were you worried?” Hakyeon asked with a grin.

 

WIth a huff, Taekwoon said, “Anyone would be, with the amount of flailing you were doing.” He hopped off the bed and flicked on the lights. “Thought you were having a seizure,” he muttered.

 

The last bits of unease left by the dream vanished with Taekwoon’s pouting face. Hakyeon stretched, glancing at the clock. 8 AM.

 

“You want to go for breakfast?” he asked, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. “I still need to check out the lakehouse before we do anything major.”

 

Taekwoon didn’t seem put off by the change in plans, nodding and slipping into the bathroom without a word. Pretty normal behavior for Taekwoon. 

 

Breakfast happened at a little diner a few streets over, advertising the World’s Best Pancakes. Hakyone didn’t know about the pancakes, but their tea was exceptional. Taekwoon ordered a black coffee and a large salad. (When Hakyeon had glanced questioningly at the slightly wilted looking salad, Taekwoon had morosely stabbed a leaf, saying that he had to replenish his magic. How sad.)

 

The atmosphere was tense, to say the least. Taekwoon didn’t make eye contact with Hakyeon and answered his questions tersely, in two or three words. Hakyeon felt like he was talking to a statue.

 

The town itself was very cute. It hadn’t yet reported any cases of drained supernaturals, but Hakyeon suspected that was because the police department was unused to dealing with actual crime. Three had had a few days to learn about the assassination; he would no doubt be more prepared than Two had been.

 

Hakyeon squinted into the blinding sunlight, hand coming up to cover his eyes. Vampires had perfect vision in the dark, but bright sun was another matter. He was frankly just glad he didn’t burst into flames during the daytime. Taekwoon glanced at him quickly before pulling him into a small shop on the side of the road.

 

Hakyeon frowned, blinking the spots from his eyes. Once they had adjusted to the dimmer lighting, he realized Taekwoon was offering him a hat, obviously taken from one of the many racks adorning the walls. A small lady bustled around the back, straightening pieces of clothing as she went.

 

“You looked uncomfortable,” Taekwoon said softly. It was probably the first instance of unprompted speech that day. Hakyeon couldn’t tell if the red in his cheeks was from the sun or his actions.

 

Hakyeon took the offered hat with a quiet thanks; it was a fairly plain black ballcap, no noticeable brand. He turned it over in his hands. On the side, in pale blue thread, was a little stitching of a pair of wings. Hakyeon smiled.

 

“Look, Taek. It’s you.”

 

Now he was sure the red in the fairy’s cheeks was not from the sun. Hakyeon put on the hat. He flashed a grin at Taekwoon. “How do I look?”

 

Taekwoon mumbled something not even Hakyeon’s vampire ears could catch. He leaned forward. “What?”

 

“You look good,” Taekwoon managed, ears bright red. He kept his eyes on his shoes.

 

Hakyeon huffed. “You’re looking down, you’re not even looking at me.”

 

Taekwoon looked up, meeting Hakyeon’s eyes, and the vampire was knocked breathless, an odd thing for a vampire to be.

 

“I am looking at you,” Taekwoon whispered. He gently took the hat off Hakyeon’s head and smoothed down his hair. “Stop frowning”

 

Hakyeon frowned harder. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

 

The shop was empty except for them. The lady had disappeared into the back somewhere, faint noises floating to their ears. Now it was Taekwoon’s turn to frown. “Are you- are you mad?”

 

“Yes,” Hakyeon said, snatching the hat back from Taekwoon. “Because you kissed me, and I have no idea why, mind you, and then you haven’t talked about it since! How am I supposed to know what you’re thinking in that big head of yours when you never say anything-”

 

Hakyeon’s voice cut off as Taekwoon grabbed another hat from the rack and pulled it over his face. The fairy mumbled from beneath the hat, “We should go look at the lake house.”

 

“No! “ Hakyeon said, grabbing the retreating fairy’s arm. “You can’t do that again, we need to talk about this, I need to know what’s going on, Taek.” Hakyeon pushed Taekwoon back into the little store and stood between him and the exit.

 

Taekwoon said nothing, just twisted the hat between his hands. Hakyeon looked at it for a second before he realized it was slowly shifting through different colors.

 

“Is this going to be a thing?” Hakyeon asked finally, waving his hand at their general positions. “You and me?”

 

“I don’t know,” Taekwoon murmured.

 

Hakyeon shook his head. “That doesn’t work for me, Taekwoon.” Hakyeon liked Taekwoon, on a level he’d never felt for anyone else before, but he wouldn’t follow him around like a puppy on his heels if he wasn’t going to get a clear answer. Relationships took two people. He didn’t say anything else; if Taekwoon couldn’t make up his mind on his own, without Hakyeon’s coercion, he’d let it go. (He tried to ignore his blood roaring through his ears, screaming for him to run to Taekwoon and never leave him. Hakyeon had spent a lifetime controlling his instincts.)

 

Taekwoon gripped the hat, now a strange green color, tightly in his fist. “Hakyeon, I- I’m not good at these things.”

 

Hakyeon waited patiently.

 

Taekwoon inhaled sharply. “I kissed you because I was exhausted and half out of my mind,” he said slowly. “And because there’s something about you I haven’t been able to get out of my head since that night eighty-seven years ago. And because your blood calls to my magic and because you make me laugh and because I like you, Hakyeon.” The last few sentences came out in a rush, words almost indecipherable.

 

But Hakyeon heard every one, and every one buried itself into his consciousness. 

Hakyeon grinned, and if he had a heartbeat it would be racing. (He didn’t, obviously, but his blood felt like it was pulsing in his veins, like something was calling to it. Vampires were naturally attuned to blood; came with the job description.) 

 

“Not good at these things?” he teased.

 

Taekwoon covered his face with the hat again, back to its normal black color.

 

It was time for a change, Hakyeon decided. This wasn’t a wise decision, but neither was anything he had done recently. Time to take a risk. What else was eternity for?

 

Hakyeon smiled brightly. “I accept your explanation, Jung Taekwoon.” He mashed the hat back onto his head, not even caring that it was messing up his hair.  “It was very eloquently delivered.”

 

“Are you still mad,” came his voice from beneath the fabric.

 

“Yes,” Hakyeon said, trying not to smile and failing miserably. God, he was acting like a teenager. He was over a hundred years old, for god’s sake. “But you can make me happier by allowing me to kiss you properly.”

 

Taekwoon lowered the hat, and his cheeks were flushed red. The fairy’s lips matched perfectly. Hakyeon felt sparks of magic fly across his skin and swim through his blood, and he wondered whether it hadn’t always been there, it felt so familiar. Taekwoon let a small gasp slip from his lips.

 

Someone coughed. Hakyeon dragged his attention from the beautiful fairy in front of him to see the little shopkeeper glaring at them, and then at the hat on the Hakyeon’s head.

 

“You going to buy that?”

 

Taekwoon bought the hat. And Hakyeon wore it the whole day, even though it messed up his hair.

 

Hakyeon called a car to drive them close to the lake house, but far enough away to remain unnoticed. The ride was uneventful, except for Taekwoon stealing glances at Hakyeon when he thought the latter wasn’t looking. (He was, but he enjoyed the attention and so didn’t say anything.) He Asked the driver to wait for them. The driver probably would have waited if Hakyeon had paid him a little more, but Hakyeon had his Voice and why spend extra money if you didn’t have to.

 

The lakehouse itself was also average looking; wooden porch dropping away to the sandy beach, green paint flaking off the wooden door, shutters banging against the side of the house with every gust of wind. The two stopped a good distance from the house and Taekwoon brought his hands together.

 

A salt breeze snapped through the air as a faint blue glow settled over Hakyeon. Taekwoon gave him a nod.

 

When Hakyeon took a step, no leaves crunched under his feet. No sticks snapped. Looking at the ground, he couldn’t see his shadow. Taekwoon had made his body immaterial. It was an eerie feeling, to be so removed from the physical world.

 

But he didn’t have time to worry about that now. He peeked through one of the clouded windows and saw nothing but old furniture and dust bunnies. The next window showed a rusted bathtub and hole-speckled shower curtain. Hakyeon grimaced. Some people took the Vampire Aesthetic to ridiculous levels.

 

Hakyeon rounded the corner just in time to see a dark shape pass in front of the third window and he was finally close enough to feel the force of Three’s power, the dust and death and memories crashing over him in a foul wave. He ducked out of sight quickly. Calming his breathing, he sped back to where Taekwoon stood in a rapidly growing circle of dead grass. The fairy dropped his hands and Hakyeon felt the leaves beneath his feet crumple.

 

“He’s there?” Taekwoon asked.

 

Hakyeon nodded. 

 

They made their way back to the car in tense silence.

  
  


~~~

 

 

 

Taekwoon wasn’t used to running missions like this. Assassination missions. At this point he was mostly trusting Hakyeon to know what he was doing. He trusted the vampire with a lot of things. (This mission, his heart. He trusted the vampire not to take it and bleed it dry.)

 

Feelings were hard, Taekwoon would be the first to admit. He wasn’t the best at talking with people in the first place, but it became exponentially harder when emotions were tossed into the mix. Thankfully, Hakyeon had a way of talking that forced you to answer. He’d never used Speech on Taekwoon, and frankly Taekwoon didn’t think it would work, but he didn’t need it for Taekwoon to want to tell the vampire all of this secrets.

 

He remembered the day the vampire had dragged him back into the alley, eyes bloodshot and tongue practically hanging out of his mouth. He’d never expected to see him again, much less kiss him in a haze of exhaustion surrounded by dead plants.

 

Immortality was funny that way, Taekwoon mused. Friends in the unlikeliest of places and kisses in little towns in Michigan.

 

He checked his email as he waited for Hakyeon to finish his mission preparations. Reports of missing and drained fairies and pixies piled up in his inbox from his officers, the tone becoming increasingly urgent. One, sent only yesterday from one of the senior officers, threatened independent movement against suspected vampires if no decision was made regarding the deaths. Taekwoon winced. The war they were trying to end, that had been stagnating, was being reignited. And this time it was no one’s fault but theirs.

 

He clicked reply and quickly typed out an irresolute response. Handong would have to wait for him to get back. Although it wasn’t just Handong raising hell back in New York; the Fae were getting antsy putting up with the unexplained deaths, and the vampires weren’t appreciating being blamed for something that was obviously affecting them as well. A tentative peace held currently, but Taekwoon wasn’t sure for how long. The situation was rapidly getting out of hand. If they didn’t take care of the last few Parliamentarians soon, it might devolve into something manageable.

 

He watched Hakyeon drop his new hat into his small suitcase and brush his hair back in preparation for the mission. (He really liked the hat.) Taekwoon’s mission routine was really nothing more than putting on some comfortable clothes and eating some plants. Energy was always important, no matter how sad the salad was. (Jaehwan carried around those little packs of baby carrots in his bag.)   
  
“Do you carry around blood bags?” Taekwoon asked spontaneously.

 

Hakyeon startled. “What? Of course not. They would go bad.”

 

“Right,” Taekwoon said. “Of course.” That made sense.

 

He thought for a few minutes as Hakyeon covered his body with weapons.

 

“Then when do you feed? I haven’t seen you leave to do so this whole time.”

 

Hakyeon hummed as he slid his flower knife into its scabbard with a little smile. “I don’t need to feed everyday. You didn’t see me feed today, though? At the diner?”

 

Taekwoon furrowed his brow. And then remembered Hakyeon’s little bathroom break at the end of breakfast, from which he returned smiling, fangs out.

 

“You ate someone at breakfast,” Taekwoon said, stunned.

 

Hakyeon protested, “He’s not dead. Just a little tired.”

 

With a quick once over in the mirror, he swept past Taekwoon and grabbed his hand. “Let’s go kill a vampire,” he said, grinning.

  
  


~~~

  
  


Three’s house looked more foreboding in the darkness than it had in the daytime, Taekwoon thought. He blinked again, making sure the vision enhancing spell was secure over his eyes. A physical light would blind Hakyeon’s eyes rather than help him, and he was the one who was actually attacking Three anyway.

 

Hakyeon approached the front porch and Taekwoon cast a series of spells within seconds of each other, hands moving quickly in the darkness. Hakyeon shivered as his magic settled over him, heightening his senses and speed. Any recognizable sounds or scents would be muffled. Taekwoon slipped his earpiece in and gestured for Hakyeon to do the same. He sent a mental thanks to Hongbin.

 

With Taekwoon as backup, Hakyeon knocked on the door and hopped out of sight.

 

After a minute it cracked open to reveal a man blinking into the darkness. Three had aged better than most, and it showed in his faintly lined face and thick black hair. His lips were painted red.

 

“Who is it?” he muttered, voice rough and low. He swiped his tongue across his fangs, still painted red.

 

Without a sound a knife flashed across his vision and he ducked back inside just in time, although not fast enough; the knife clipped his cheek, spilling more blood down his already stained face.

 

Three hissed savagely, eyes narrowing. His gaze whipped to the knife quivering in the wooden planks of the house.

 

“Cha.” The name scraped across Taekwoon’s eardrums.

 

Hakyeon slipped out of the shadows and lunged at Three, knife raised. Taekwoon couldn’t risk shooting anything for risk of hitting the wrong vampire, so he settled for keeping the spells covering Hakyeon running and weaving a new one over his skin, changing the words for a petrification spell just enough to turn Hakyeon’s skin impenetrable.

 

Both Hakyeon and Three crashed through the door into the house. Taekwoon heard Hakyeon curse. He raced inside to find Hakyeon struggling with Three on the ground.

 

Three tossed Hakyeon off him into a table, where he lay stunned, gasping for breath. Taekwoon conjured a projectile in his hands and fired it towards Three’s face, but the vampire ducked and came up under Taekwoon’s guard. He wrapped a clawed hand around his neck.

 

“Stand still,” he Spoke, and it was strange, because Taekwoon could here the magic in the words but he didn’t feel it like he knew he should, and Three cocked his head in confusion as Taekwoon used a large chunk of his energy to phase out of his grip.

 

Hakyeon pulled himself up groaning, brushing splinters of wood from his hair. With a growl, he caught the confused Parliamentarian in the back with a dagger, blood streaming from the wound.

 

The floor gave beneath Taekwoon’s feet and realized with a start that there were bodies sprinkled about the lakehouse. Three had been busy.

 

The vampire screeched in pain and twisted away from Hakyeon’s knife, dagger-like fingers scrabbling for Hakyeon’s face. Hakyeon grimaced and stabbed again, deeper, into Three’s unprotected chest, holding his face out of reach of the clawing hands.

 

“Stop!” Three spit around his fangs, voice layered with Speech, and Hakyeon froze, hands loosely wrapped around the hilt of his knife. Taekwoon’s eyes widened in momentary fear before Hakyeon shook himself and grinned savagely, fangs extended to their full length.

 

“Can’t tell me what to do, old man.” He gripped the hilt of his knife tightly and crouched lower, making eye contact with Taekwoon.

 

_ On three _ , he mouthed. Taekwoon nodded.

 

“How does it feel,” Hakyeon asked, and Taekwoon began counting down in his head. “To know that you can’t control us anymore?”

 

_ Three. _

 

Three hissed, spitting through his fangs. “You cannot control yourselves. You will see.”

 

_ Two. _

 

“But it’s a choice, you see,” Hakyeon said. “We get to decide.” His knuckles whitened. “And I’ve decided to kill you.”

 

_ One. _

 

Taekwoon slammed his hands together and Three shrieked, clawing at his eyes. He whipped his head around viciously searching for the source of the blindness to no avail.

 

Hakyeon approached the thrashing vampire and kicked out his legs, sending him crashing to the floor beside one of his drained victims. He appreciated the irony.

 

Three scrambled at the floor but Taekwoon wrapped ropes of blue magic around his limbs, immobilizing him.

 

“You weren’t supposed to come today,” Three cried shrilly. “He lied!”

 

Hakyeon frowned. “Who lied?” he asked, crouching down by the wailing vampire.

 

No answer was forthcoming. The vampire was feral, blood-stained teeth snapped in Hakyeon’s face. With deft fingers, Hakyeon reversed his grip on the knife and thrust it into Three’s heart, taking morbid pleasure in the way the knife cut through muscle and flesh. The vampire jerked under his knife and Taekwoon’s ropes, the blood of dead vampires and fairies gushing from his chest relentlessly. He finally stopped thrashing and his eyes went dark. The feeling of killing something that had been alive for millennia was… odd, to say the least. Hakyeon almost felt sad.

 

A quick glance around the room at the scattered victims liberated him of that notion.

 

Taekwoon released his hold on the magic, heaving a pent up sigh. He surveyed the ruined lake house. Hakyeon wiped his knife on Three’s shirt and stood up, replacing it in its scabbard.

 

He pulled the little earpiece from his ear. “Good old Hongbin,” he said. Taekwoon frowned.

 

“Aren’t they supposed to have a little green light when they’re on?”

 

Hakyeon turned the little device over in his fingers. “I don’t know, maybe not. It worked, right?”

 

Taekwoon’s frown etched deeper into his face. He carefully took his matching device from his ear; sure enough, a little green light blinked up at him.

 

“Let me see that.” The vampire handed Taekwoon the earpiece without complaint, although he looked a little confused. Taekwoon opened his senses, searching for the telltale signature of Hongbin’s lavender scented magic, so at odds with the burning feeling it carried.

 

“Hakyeon,” Taekwoon said worriedly. “This is dead.”

 

“What? But it was working…?”

 

“The batteries are dead, Hakyeon. There’s no energy in them,” Taekwoon reiterated. But Three had used Speech, they both heard it, so how was Hakyeon standing here now, having resisted Three’s coercion?

 

Hakyeon opened his mouth and closed it again, searching for any plausible answer. “Maybe Three was just… really bad at Speaking…”

 

“No.”

 

“Hongbin probably built in some kind of failsafe, right? Just in case?”

 

Taekwoon raised an eyebrow.

 

Hakyeon tossed his hands up. “Just throwing out ideas here, Taekwoon!”

 

“We can call Hongbin later,” Taekwoon offered. “Maybe he did build in some kind of emergency power source.” Hakyeon seemed irritated at having to rely on Hongbin, but overall amenable. Taekwoon made a mental note to charge his and Hakyeon’s earpieces later that night. “Or maybe you have magical powers and can resist the Speech, who knows.”

 

“I’ve always wanted to be a superhero,” Hakyeon said with a grin.

 

Taekwoon scowled. “You’re literally a vampire,” he said. “I don’t know how much farther you can get from superhero.”

 

“Don’t crush my dreams. You’re supposed to support me.”

 

Hakyeon fished around in his pocket for a second before pulling out a small matchbox. He tossed it to Taekwoon.

 

“You want to do the honors?” he asked, indicating Three’s body.

 

Five minutes later, Taekwoon stood on the beach watching the lake house burn to the ground, the flames hungrily consuming the bodies inside. Taekwoon noticed Hakyeon turn his face away.

 

“You don’t want to watch?” he called to the back of Hakyeon’s head.

 

Hakyeon shrugged casually. “Don’t like fire much.”

  
  


~~~

 

 

 

Hongbin picked up on the third ring. Taekwoon and Hakyeon sat on the bed, phone on speaker mode and held between them.

 

“How did it go?” Hongbin asked first.

 

Hakyeon grinned. “We got him,” he said. “But we have some questions. About the earpieces?”

 

A pause over the line.

 

“Did they not work?”

 

“Well-” Hakyeon began.

 

Taekwoon grabbed the phone. “Of course they worked, you’re a genius. Hakyeon was just an idiot and forgot to charge his, and it died mid-raid.”

 

Hongbin snorted. Hakyeon felt incredibly offended at the lack of sympathy. “I could have  _ died _ ,” he said.

 

Hongbin muttered something that got lost in the static. It sounded like,  _ I wish you had _ .

 

“Hakyeon sounds fine to me,” the scientist said, louder. “Unless he’s sitting there with, like, one leg or something.”

 

“No,” Taekwoon said. “He has all his limbs.”

 

“Congratulations,” Hongbin commented drily.

 

Hakyeon bit his tongue to keep from cursing. He tried to snatch the phone back but Taekwoon held it out of his reach.

 

“We were wondering if you had built a failsafe into the mechanism?” Taeekwoon asked. “Because it died and Three Spoke to him, and the Speech didn’t work.”

 

Hongbin hummed slightly. “Nope. No failsafe. I decided that if anyone was idiotic enough to not take care of their equipment they deserved whatever they got.” He hesitated slightly. “And it was really difficult to try to figure out how to install a back-up energy source and have it fit in your ear. Didn’t think it was necessary.”

 

Hakyeon wished Hongbin was in front of him so he could punch the fairy. Through gritted teeth, he said, “You didn’t think our lives were necessary?”

 

Hongbin laughed sharply. “Debatable. Some more than others.”

 

Scoffing quietly, Hakyeon rolled his eyes. “Would you have any idea about why I was able to resist the Speech, then,  _ doctor _ ?”

 

Hongbin sighed. “I don’t know, maybe Three was just really bad at Speaking?”

 

Hakyeon tossed a glance at Taekwoon, who pursed his lips. “That’s not it,” the fairy said.

 

“Well then, unless there’s something really weird in your blood, I have no idea. You shouldn’t have been able to resist the Speech of a Parliamentarian.”   
  
Taekwoon’s face became serious. “What do you mean, something in his blood.”

 

Hakyeon could feel Hongbin’s exasperation. “You know, large amounts of magic or, like, drugs. I don’t know.”

 

He paused. “But it would take a lot of magic to make you that powerful. Fae blood would work, I suppose, but you’d probably have to drain Taekwoon dry.”

 

Ignoring the implications of Hongbin’s words, Hakyeon paled slightly. “Hypothetically,” he began slowly, “If a vampire were in the early stages of development, I’m talking just turned that day, and this hypothetical vampire drank Fae blood. What would happen?”

 

Taekwoon cut in. “This is all hypothetical, of course.”

 

Hakyeon heard Hongbin shout something to Wonsik. A few seconds later, Hongbin responded. “Wonsik says that the first blood is the most important. It kind of, well he used the word calibrate but I’m not sure that’s the best word for it, seems a little mechanical, don’t you think-”

 

“Get on with it!” Hakyeon snapped.

 

“Wow, ok. If Mr. Hypothetical Vampire really did have Fae blood during their first drinking, it sounds like that would ingrain the magic of that Fae into their undead body, because at that point the vampire is still developing, if that makes sense.”

 

Hakyeon felt cold. Taekwoon tried to meet his eyes but Hakyeon refused to look at him.

 

There was some rustling on the other end. Hongbin’s voice cut through the silence. “Wonsik wants you to know that he had to watch a whole video on vampire development so if you want to know anything else, he’d be happy to answer questions.”

 

“Yeah,” Hakyeon said faintly. “Thanks. I think we’re ok.”

 

“Great,” Hongbin said, in a voice Hakyeon found grating on his ears. “I’ll leave you to your hypothetical situation then, because I am  _ this  _ close to finding Five and I literally cannot deal with interruptions. I’m turning my phone off. Call Wonsik if you need anything.”

 

The line clicked dead. And as Taekwoon’s fingers sparked blue, Hakyeon felt his blood answer.

 

  
~~~

 

 

Jaehwan was a traitor. Jaehwan was a traitor because he’d said he would let Sanghyuk win this round of poker and Sanghyuk could _clearly_ see him magicking that two in his hand into a black ace, and Sanghyuk was already $134 short and his wallet really couldn’t afford another loss. He glared at the fairy over his cards and tried to mentally convey his disappointment in his decision making.

 

Jaehwan grinned and shrugged, not apologetic in the slightest.

 

Just wait till they got back to the hotel.

 

Sanghyuk went back to his sad hand of a jack of spades, a queen of hearts, a red seven, and a pair of threes. He wondered if he could Talk the dealer into giving him some better cards. A glance at the large, almost bouncer like figure holding the deck put him off that idea.

 

Sanghyuk checked to make sure his pant-leg was securely tucked into his boot. It wouldn’t do for security to notice the plethora of weapons strapped to his body. When they had entered the casino two hours ago, Sanghyuk had Spoken to the guard and he had let them pass, but he wasn’t quite sure his Speech would work on this dealer the size of a mountain.

 

Two hours ago, Jaehwan and Sanghyuk had strolled into the casino, adrenaline coursing through their blood, primed for another fight with a Parliamentarian. But after checking the attached hotel’s computer system and having Jaehwan run a scan of the whole building, they’d found nothing except for a very faint signature of Four’s corrosive magic in the eighth floor suite. Even though the trace was so slight, small enough to simply be leftover from days ago, the two had gone to check it out.

 

And found, with extreme shock, that someone had already done their job for them. Four, wearing a bloodied suit and black dress shoes, was shoved in the bathtub with the curtain slid shut, eyes staring wide and unseeing at the tile ceiling. A quick search of the body had revealed nothing of note except the cause of death (or undeath? Second death? Extra death? Up for debate). 

 

Four, it seemed, had been the recipient of numerous scratches and cuts, but the final blow had been a deep puncture wound in his neck, cutting through arteries and sending blood splattering across the shower curtain. Sanghyuk winced at the memory. To make things even more strange, the blood was still wet; the killer was most likely still in the building. Whoever it was, they had probably sensed Jaehwan and Sanghyuk coming and ran before they got the chance to properly burn the body.

 

Jaehwan had made the executive decision to remain in the casino and see if the killer came to them. Sanghyuk had readily agreed, after sending a quick text to the group chat, now named The Magnificent Six, reading  _ Four dead by unknown means, looking for killer.   _ Hakyeon sent back a series of little knife emojis, saying  _ tell them thanks. _ Sanghyuk was inclined to agree.

 

So although arguably Jaehwan had done more work tonight, what with the magic sensing and all that, Sanghyuk would still have liked the fairy to have some decency and let him win a game once in a while.

 

Sanghyuk glared as Jaehwan tossed down his four aces with a sly grin and swept the chips into his pile. The fairy winked.

 

The dealer announced that he would be switching with another person, a woman this time. Sanghyuk’s spirits rose. Maybe this one would be easier to convince. He looked up at the dealer and stared.

 

The librarian from the New York Society Library smiled sharply as she slid a card across the table.

 

Sanghyuk blinked, mouth open. He looked between her, and then at Jaehwan, and then at the cards lying on the table. He looked back at her.

 

“I’m sorry,” Sanghyuk managed. “Didn’t you work at the Society Library? In New York?”

 

Jaehwan looked up from his cards, confused. His eyes met Sanghyuk’s questioningly.  _ You know this person?  _

 

The dealer smiled, and Sanghyuk realized they were alone at the table. Cards and chips lay scattered across the green felt. (Sanghyuk had the worst cards. The universe was against him.)

 

“You remember me,” she said, dealing Jaehwan his last card. “I’m honored.”

 

Sanghyuk was so confused. So very confused. “This is LA.”

 

Gahyeon raised an eyebrow. “You’re correct,” she said dryly.

 

“What- How did you- You were in New York?”

 

“I took a plane, pretty vampire,” Gahyeon simpered.

 

Sanghyuk gestured weakly at the general surroundings, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. A small, confused sound squeaked out of his throat.

 

Jaehwan put his cards down and smiled winningly at Gahyeon. “What my dear, underdeveloped friend is trying to say is, it seems like an odd coincidence to see you in two such far removed places, and we were wondering what you were doing here, if you don’t mind us asking.”

 

He glanced at Sanghyuk, who nodded.

 

Gahyeon held the deck of cards between her manicured fingers. “I’m a dealer.”

 

Sanghyuk snorted. “I don’t believe that for a second.” 

 

“What, people can’t work two jobs?” she asked.

 

Sanghyuk made a frustrated noise. “Not on opposite ends of the country!” He saw a few tiny sparks fly from Jaehwan’s fingertips, like the fairy was powering up a spell. Sanghyuk was tempted to reach for his knife, but something held his hand back.

 

“Shut that magic down,” Gahyeon said, voice so cold it froze Sanghyuk’s skin. The energy in Jaehwan’s hands sank beneath his skin without complaint.

 

She dropped the deck, sending cards sliding across the table, and stood up. “I think we should talk outside,” she said, dusting off her hands. Without checking to make sure they were following, she turned sharply on her heel and walked out. (Sanghyuk wished he had that kind of confidence.)

 

He nodded to Jaehwan and the two stood up, Sanghyuk making sure his knives were within easy reach. Jaehwan elbowed him.

 

“Who is this person?” he asked in a low voice.

 

“She told us about the Parliament’s powers,” he said quietly. “But other than that, I have no idea.”

 

They followed Gahyeon outside the casino and down a smaller side street, where there were fewer cars and less noise. Sanghyuk considered the greying sky. It might rain soon, he decided.

 

As she stopped and leaned against the wall, Jaehwan nudged Sanghyuk’s shoulder. He jerked his head at her shoes.

 

Sanghyuk followed Jaehwan’s gesture and realized with a shock of adrenaline that her left heel was stained red. Gahyeon crossed her legs, tucking the shoe out of sight.

 

“You killed Four,” Jaehwan said with certainty.

 

Gahyeon’s expression remained relaxed. “Four what?” She discreetly scuffed her heel against the brick wall; rust-red flaked off the shoe. Sanghyuk faintly picked up the scent of Four’s magic. Beside him, Jaehwan shuddered almost imperceptibly.

 

“The fourth Parliamentarian. We call him Four,” Sanghyuk said, mentally composing a text to Hakyeon.  _ Return of the scary hot librarian vampire. Send backup.  _

 

Gahyeon’s easy smile twisted into a straight line. “I have no idea who that is.”

 

Sanghyuk rested his hand on the hilt of his knife, thinking about that puncture wound on Four’s neck and how the woman leaning against the wall in front of his looked completely unharmed, comfortably facing down two immortals.

 

He took a cautious step back. Gahyeon caught the movement and smirked slightly.

 

“The Parliamentarian,” Jaehwan elaborated. “In the shower. That was you.” Sanghyuk wasn’t sure he understood yet that she was playing with them.

 

“Why would I kill a Parliamentarian?” she asked, eyes widened innocently, and Sanghyuk got the feeling she was trying to figure out how much they knew about her. Which was frighteningly little.

 

“I have no idea,” Jaehwan muttered. “But you’re welcome to kill as many as you want.”

 

Gahyeon laughed, fangs on display. “I want to like you, my poor, misguided fairy.” Jaehwan looked stunned.

 

_ Misguided? _ Sanghyuk frowned.

 

“But why are you killing Parliamentarians?” he asked. “I thought you were a librarian.” He really had a headache. This was a problem.

 

“You would have gotten nowhere had it not been for me,” Gahyeon said, eyes narrowed. “I told you everything-”

 

“Not everything,” Jaehwan murmured. Sanghyuk blinked.

 

“Do you know something else?” he asked quietly. Jaehwan’s eyes shuttered closed.

 

“I mean, she didn’t tell us any locations or anything. Or where Six is.”

 

Gahyeon looked between the two of them, and if Sanghyuk had to name the emotion in her eyes he’d liken it to pity, although for which one of them he couldn’t tell. And he didn’t understand why.

 

She sketched a little bow, bending slightly at the waist. “I’d like to offer my assistance. More actively, this time.”

 

Sanghyuk peered at the vampire suspiciously. “You want to help.”

 

“Of course!”

 

“How would you help?” Sanghyuk asked, sceptically.

 

Gahyeon waved a hand nonchalantly. “Oh, you know. I’d love to be able to kill another Parliamentarian. You only have one left, if I’m remembering correctly.”

 

Sanghyuk raised an eyebrow. “Two, actually.” Gahyeon grimaced slightly. 

 

“Two. My bad.”

 

“She’s dangerous, Sanghyuk,” Jaehwn said quickly, grabbing his arm. “We can’t trust her.”

 

“You’re one to talk,” Gahyeon said. Her smile sharpened into something a little more dangerous, and Sanghyuk remembered her eyes that had known too much, seen too deep, and he felt a little more scared than he had before. A strange feeling hung in the air, almost like magic but not quite. Like a mirror that showed your reflection and something else, something that wasn’t there when you turned around to look.

 

“Stop talking,” Jaehwan spit, eyes glinting blue.

 

Sanghyuk pulled out of his grip and rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry, what is happening here?” he nearly shouted. “Jaehwan, I know we just met her and we know nothing about her, but who are we to refuse the help of someone who just killed the person we were one our way to kill?”

 

Jaehwan paled. “I just- we don’t know her, Sanghyuk. Maybe it’s all a trap.”

 

“Just like the ones you set?” Gahyeon asked. Her eyes looked almost silver in the reflection of the streetlights.

 

Sanghyuk jerked back. “Jaehwan?”

 

Jaehwan’s eyes widened. His hands flew up to Sanghyuk’s arm, but Sanghyuk shrugged him off. A crack of thunder split the sky some distance away and the first raindrop fell.

 

“No, Sanghyuk-”

 

“Jaehwan, what does she mean, traps.” Sanghyuk’s heart didn’t beat anymore, and he knew it was from vampirism but at this moment it could also be from fear. Fear of the vampire leaning casually against the wall like she hadn’t just turned Sanghyuk’s world upside down, fear of Jaehwan and what he might say next. Gahyeon must be lying, there wasn’t any other explanation. 

 

( _ What if she’s not _ , a small part of him whispered.  _ What if Jaehwan’s been lying to you _ . Sanghyuk didn’t think he could handle that. The world and its cities moved in cycles around him, people dying and living and loving and dying again, but he was immortal, and Jaehwan was a constant. Jaehwan made the world from which Sanghyuk was so removed, this world of dust and starlight, into something a little more corporeal. With Jaehwan, it seemed like the stars were within reach.)

 

Jaehwan said nothing, only flexed his fingers by his sides. He looked deathly pale, vampire levels of pale.

 

Gahyeon smiled, that smile that made Sanghyuk question everything he thought he knew, and said, “I’ll let you guys have some time.” She pressed a card into Sanghyuk’s limp hand. “Text me when you make a decision.”

 

She pushed off the wall and turned to walk away, tossing a razor-sharp grin over her shoulder, eyes dark. “I’m always happy to help.”

  
  


~~~

  
  


 

Seventeen years ago, Jaehwan pulled a vampire off a barstool and tugged him onto the dance floor, a grin on his face and sparks in his blood, because the vampire was beautiful and bored and Jaehwan was a sucker for bored, beautiful vampires.

 

Sanghyuk, it turned out, was into tall, pretty fairies who laughed like magic and smelled like mint, so he took Jaehwan’s hand without a second thought and they really never stopped dancing since.

 

Jaehwan didn’t feel like dancing now.

 

In fact, looking at the fear and pain in Sanghyuk’s eyes, he wondered if he would ever dance again. Prospects were looking grim.

 

Everything had been going smoothly; Four had been dead already and Jaehwan hadn’t even had to lift a finger. The casino was fun, he’d been obliterating Sanghyuk at poker, and then that woman with dark eyes and dark hair and a darker laugh stepped into Jaehwan’s life with her dagger heels and shone a spotlight on everything he had been carefully keeping in the shadows.

 

Because in the shadows he hadn’t had to think about it. He hadn’t had to ask himself the question, was it worth it? Because to be honest, Jaehwan didn’t even want to know his own answer.

 

So he swept the whole conversation he’d had with Five under the bed, into the darkness, and hoped nothing ever came of it. Hakyeon had been able to take care of Three just fine, and Two was burned to a crisp. Things had been going well.

 

The first problem was, Jaehwan’s information wasn’t holding up all that well, and a part of Jaehwan was always terrified Five would pop up somewhere with a blowtorch and a smile and snatch Sanghyuk from him. But Jaehwan had to keep going.

 

(He had to keep going, because the shell he’d become when Five had snapped his magic away was too terrifying a concept to even grasp fully. It was a threat and it was a promise, and Jaehwan didn’t know much about vampires but he knew people, and the look in Five’s stone cold eyes had told him everything he needed to know.  _ Spy for me and I’ll let you live,  _ he had said. And Jaehwan had stubbornly said nothing, because his life wasn’t that important in the grand scheme of things, and he was sure Sanghyuk and the others would understand. And then Five had said  _ Spy for me and I’ll leave you with your magic,  _ and Jaehwan had almost crumbled. But he didn’t, because Sanghyuk would be there for him always. 

 

And then Five had said  _ Spy for me and I won’t harm your vampire friend  _ and Jaehwan broke, because Sanghyuk was so much more important to him than he’d ever realized before. So ultimately, the question is, who gets hit with the shrapnel when you’re shooting yourself?)

 

“Jaehwan, what does she mean, traps,” came his voice.

 

Jaehwan felt like he was going to throw up. He wanted so very badly to tell Sanghyuk that everything was ok, that Gahyeon was lying, but he couldn’t lie to Sanghyuk’s face. Not well, at least. He could omit truths, change the subject, but he couldn’t bring himself to look into Sanghyuk’s pained eyes and pretend like everything was ok.

 

Gahyeon smiled, that smile that had brought Jaehwan’s world crashing down around his ears. 

 

“I’m always happy to help.”

 

Jaehwan wanted to hate her, but all she had done was open the floodgates. Jaehwan was the one who had built them. And now even he, with all his magic, couldn’t stop the water from rushing out.

 

“Jaehwan, please,” Sanghyuk begged, voice desperate. “What traps?”

 

Jaehwan slumped against the brick of the alleyway and sighed. He dragged his fingers through his hair.

 

“Sanghyuk, I-”

  
  
Sanghyuk waited expectantly.

 

Jaehwan closed his eyes. Best to get it over with. “Five spoke to me, last week. Before we got Two.”

 

“What? Did he hurt you?” Sanghyuk asked, hands flying about Jaehwan’s face as if trying to find wounds. That was just like Sanghyuk, to worry about injuries in the middle of a confession.

 

“No,” Jaehwan said. And he’d promised himself he wouldn’t lie to Sanghyuk, but this really didn’t concern him. He didn’t want Sanghyuk looking at him with pity. Jaehwan shrugged off the chills he got when thinking about Five’s smile as he’d ripped away his magic. 

 

“He wanted me to spy on you guys. And report back.” Jaehwan took a deep breath. “I said yes.”

 

He waited, for Sanghyuk to scream, to hit him, to walk away without a sound, but Sanghyuk just stood there, rain dripping down his face. Jaehwan would almost rather the vampire hit him, because at least that would be retribution. Disappointed acceptance was so much worse.

 

“That’s the game, isn’t it,” Sanghyuk said flatly. “I suppose I should have seen it coming.” His hands hung limply at his sides, no longer trying to make sure Jaehwan was unharmed.

 

“I’m not playing a game,” Jaehwan protested.

 

Sanghyuk laughed harshly. “We’re always playing a game, Jaehwan. From the moment we met. You tell me a secret, I tell you a secret, we wait to see who breaks first. It was only a matter of time before you changed it up.”

 

Jaehwan flinched. “You really think I have such little loyalty?” Sanghyuk spread his hands, as if to say,  _ what would you have me think?  _ Jaehwan was bitterly reminded of one of those magic eight balls, the little die bobbing up and down mockingly in the blue liquid.  _ Signs point to no. _

 

“He threatened you, Sanghyuk.” Jaehwan said, voice breaking slightly. “He threatened you and everyone else and I couldn’t just say  _ no _ .”

 

“Yes!” Sanghyuk shouted. “You could have! You say no and come tell me, or Taekwoon, or Hongbin, for god's sake, and then we figure it out together, because that’s how a team works.” He looked frenzied, eyes wide and frantic.

 

“You didn’t even want to do this!” Jaehwan burst out. “Our  _ team  _ is made up of a vampire who thinks he’s a millennial,” he pointed at Sanghyuk, “a random neighborhood vampire who waltzed up to the table, a genius who thinks he’s better than everyone else, and a vampire fairy duo who think they can save the world. What are we  _ doing _ ?”

 

Sanghyuk groaned. “I don’t know, Jaehwan, but this doesn’t fucking help.”

 

“You have no idea what he was like,” Jaehwan gasped. “His eyes, the magic-”

 

“I  _ trusted  _ you,” Sanghyuk said, eyes rimmed red. “And I’m realizing I shouldn’t have, because our whole relationship was built on lies, wasn’t it.” He laughed bitterly. “How ironic that it should end with a truth.”

 

Jaehwan’s face felt wet and he wasn’t sure it was just because of the rain. His fingers twitched like he wanted to grab Sanghyuk’s hands, his face, anything, but Sanghyuk had his guard up. Jaehwan could see it in his eyes.

 

“I wanted to protect you, please, you have to see that-”

 

“I don’t have to do anything,” Sanghyuk spit. “Protecting me wasn’t your responsibility.”

 

Jaehwan had no idea what Sanghyuk was thinking right now. He could normally read the vampire like a book, but here, in the rain and darkness and confusion, he couldn’t make sense of anything.

 

“That’s what Two meant, I understand now. And why Hakyeon was able to take Three by surprise.” The vampire’s voice sounded lifeless. Jaehwan hated it.

 

Sanghyuk met Jaehwan’s eyes. “What else did you tell him?” he asked flatly.

 

“I- I sent him the schedule we made last week, of our attack plans. That was the last thing…”

 

Sanghyuk eyes widened and he hurriedly pulled his phone out of his pocket, fingers flying over the screen. He cursed under his breath. Why was he-

 

Jaehwan gasped, stumbling against the wall. “Oh god. Hongbin and Wonsik are going after Five right now.” Hongbin and Wonsik, who didn’t know that Five knew they were coming and were completely unprepared for the force they were about to face. Jaehwan remembered Five ripping the magic from his blood and the deathly cold grip on his shoulder. Hongbin and Wonsik were going to be torn apart, and it would be his fault.

 

Sanghyuk gripped his phone tightly. “They’re not responding,” he said through gritted teeth. He glared at Jaehwan, who felt very faint. Everything seemed a little hazy, like a window misted over with ice and condensation.

 

“I haven’t forgiven you,” he warned, grabbing the fairy’s wrist, “but we need to get to Hongbin and Wonsik right now. They’re walking into a trap that you helped set.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aha sorry for the late update,, and for the cliffhanger.. can't believe we're already to this point in the story! gotta get the next couple chapters written *stressed typing* anyways, thanks as always for reading :)


	13. Chapter 13

It turned out Hongbin wouldn’t even have to go anywhere; Five had never left New York. And as pleased as Hongbin was about this, the sheer mountain of paperwork and accident reports he’d had to go through to get to this point was ridiculous. Taekwoon just forwarded nearly every email he got over to Hongbin, which was absurd because Hongbin didn’t even work in administration. And that wasn’t all; Hongbin was collecting police reports from all over the US, anything carrying key words like _drained_ _,_ or _punctured_ _,_ or even as broad as _unexplained._ The amount of unexplained deaths in the US alone was preposterous, Hongbin thought. Couldn’t people at least have the decency to die without all the dramatics?

 

Wonsik had helped, of course, but the vampire was almost more distracting than he was constructive. (It really wasn’t even Wonsik’s fault; Hongbin just had a tendency to fixate on things and why would he want to concentrate on the paperwork when Wonsik’s eyelashes were _right there?)_

 

But the reports had shown a pattern, a zone of common, unexplained occurrences. Not only deaths, Hongbin realized as he looked further into the situation, but people calling in missing pets, robbers breaking in and the owners having no memory of the robbery, solid iron street lamps twisted and bent at odd angles. All revolving around one location; New York City’s very own Central Park. Hongbin drew a red circle around it. He had a paper map in front of him, for no reason other than because he liked the aesthetic of it and it was incredibly satisfying to stab pins into the paper.

 

It almost seemed too easy. Disregarding the paperwork, the signs weren’t well-hidden. Five wasn’t trying very hard to lay low. Hopefully he hadn’t yet gotten word of Three’s death, although Hongbin wasn’t sure who would have told him.

 

The scent of coffee assaulted Hongbin’s nose. He wrinkled his face and looked up from his map. “That smells terrible.”

 

Wonsik grinned. “Not any worse than your leaf water,” he said. He moved a stack of papers off the only remaining chair and set them on the table. Taking a seat, he noticed the red circle around Central Park. He raised his eyebrows. 

 

“Did you find him?”

 

“I did.” Hongbin felt very satisfied.

 

“That’s great,” Wonsik said. Hongbin basked in the praise. It was nice to be appreciated. “How are we going to kill him?”

 

The fairy glared at Wonsik indignantly. “I literally just finished finding him and you already want to know my plan? Maybe I don’t have one yet.”

 

Wonsik just sat there, sipping his gross, bitter bean drink and waiting for Hongbin to continue.

 

Hongbin sighed and pointed his pen at a folder from the stack Wonsik had just moved. “It’s in there.”

 

The vampire clapped excitedly, reaching for the papers. “See? I knew you had one already.”

 

“Why did you expect me to have a plan when I didn’t even know his location until thirty seconds ago?” Hongbin muttered. 

 

“Because,” Wonsik said, “Your brain does five million things at once and this tedious task of narrowing down locations is nothing.”

 

Hongbin sniffed. “Flattery will get you nowhere.” Wonsik didn’t even respond to that, because from experience, flattery got him everywhere.

 

He flipped through the sheets of paper, eyes scanning the pages quickly. He looked back at Hongbin.

 

“Does this say pigeon vanguard?”

 

Hongbin nodded. “Can you not read my handwriting?”

 

“I can,” Wonsik said slowly. “Just making sure it said what I thought it did.”

 

Hongbin cleaned up some of the excess papers as Wonsik continued reading. The vampire cleared his throat.

 

“Hongbin, I- I’m not sure mind controlling the park animals is the best way to go about this.”

 

Hongbin scoffed. “Well of course not. The park animals are idiots. I’d choose free range squirrels and pigeons.”

 

Wonsik stared at him blankly. “What.”

 

“You done with your bean juice?” Hongbin asked, sweeping the quarter full mug off the table and taking it to the sink.

 

“This is a joke, right?” Wonsik called after him, voice rising in pitch. “Hongbin?”

 

It was a joke. Of _course_ it was a joke. Hongbin had found a police report for a Cinderella reenactment in Central Park and spelled it for fun. He’d been thinking about texting it to Taekwoon. But Wonsik had walked in and the perfect opportunity had presented itself. (The spell was complicated but one hundred percent worth Wonsik’s reaction.)

 

Hongbin returned from the kitchen carrying his computer and a cup of tea. He pushed the rest of the papers haphazardly off the table and sat down.

 

“Hongbin, I’m not chasing down thirty eight squirrels for you,” Wonsik said flatly. “I’m not that good of a boyfriend.”

 

And Hongbin had been about to open his computer and bring up the real plan but Wonsik’s words stopped him in his tracks. Because he’d said-

 

“Boyfriend?”

 

Wonsik’s eyes widened. He struggled for words. “Uh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume-”

 

“Are you my boyfriend?” Hongbin asked, steamrolling Wonsik’s stuttered defense. “Because till now I’ve been going about like we’re weird platonic soulmates that occasionally sleep together and it would really be nice to have some kind of title.”

 

“Title,” Wonsik said. “Right.” He said nothing else.

 

Hongbin raised an eyebrow. “Wonsik, would you like to become my romantically engaged soulmate rather than the one of the platonic variety?”

 

Wonsik managed a nod, ears burning red. Hongbin decided verbal consent in this situation wasn’t necessary.

 

“Wonderful,” he said. “In lieu of that, you won’t have to chase down thirty-eight squirrels. I reserve that task for my platonic soulmates. I’ll change your job description to Unpaid Assistant and Full-Time Boyfriend.” Hongbin winked. “No pay raise, I’m afraid, but I’m sure we can think of other benefits.”

 

The vampire in front of him choked slightly. 

 

Hongbin turned his computer around. “Now that we’ve gotten that cleared up, boyfriend.” Hongbin couldn’t suppress the wide grin that split his face and the way the room brightened with a soft, floral scent. He cleared his throat and tapped the computer. “I have the plan here.”

 

Wonsik groaned. “It really was a joke, thank god.”

 

“Of course,” Hongbin laughed. “I hate squirrels. Idiotic rodents.”  He spun the computer around so Wonsik could see the screen.

 

He pointed to a neatly laid out itinerary. “The goal is to sneak up on Five while he’s weakest,” Hongbin explained. “You know more than I do about vampire habits. When would a vampire be most susceptible to attack?”

 

“While they’re feeding,” Wonsik said confidently. “We tend to zone out.”

 

Hongbin made a note on the computer. “The police reports show highest activity between 11 PM and 5 AM, and the interesting thing is the bodies aren’t found until days after they were reported missing. So Five’s taking them somewhere,” he pointed to Central Park, “draining them, and then leaving the bodies for people to find.”

 

“Not very good for permanent residence,” Wonsik commented. “Almost seems like he’s-”

 

“Setting a trap?” Hongbin interrupted. “I thought so too. But we don’t have anything else to go on and immortals are dropping like flies. We have to take the chance.”

 

“So we need to find his Central Park lair and attack him while he’s feeding, sometime between 11 and 5?” Wonsik asked. When Hongbin nodded, he said, “That sounds like a lot of variables.”

  
“Yes!” Hongbin snapped his fingers. “You’re exactly right. That is why,” he stood up and positioned his hands similarly to when he created doubles of Jaehwan and Sanghyuk back in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, although this time with a different face in mind. “We’re going to need bait.”

 

Hongbin let the magic drip from his fingers, merely guiding it into the shape he wanted. He wasn’t a powerhouse like Taekwoon, but he liked to think of magic like a science, something to be understood and built upon. This spell was one of his own creation and he was very proud of it. “Who better to attract FIve’s attention than the one who killed Two?”

 

Hongbin opened his eyes to see Hakyeon staring back at him, fangs poking out from his sardonic smile. Wonsik gasped quietly. “That’s so creepy.”

 

“Magic.” Hongbin wiggled his fingers. Vestigial drops of violet splashed onto the floor. Wonsik grinned.

 

Hakyeon had been the obvious choice as bait; he had been the first with a price on his head, he was directly responsible for killing Three and connected to the killings of One and Two. The Parliament knew his face and Hongbin was confident Five would fall for it. (And if Hongbin took some pleasure in sending a clone of Hakyeon into the jaws of death, no one had to know.) Hongbin had magic. There was no reason he or Wonsik had to put themselves in such extreme danger when he could conjure such a convincing double.

 

Suddenly Wonsik frowned. “He smells different.”

 

“What do you mean?” Hongbin gave the clone a hesitant sniff. “I don’t smell anything.”

 

“Exactly,” Wonsik said. “He needs to smell like himself. Vampires know people’s scents.” 

 

Hongbin laughed, and then quickly stopped when Wonsik shot him a glare. “Ok, what does he smell like, then?” _God_ _,_ Hongbin thought. _If I have to call Hakyeon back asking about what he smells like I will actually die._  

 

“He smells like,” Wonsik waved his hands a little, as if searching for the right words. “Those sea salt- caramel candles they sell at stores, that are mostly horribly sweet but if you get really close you can smell the salt. And they smell a little bit better because they’re the fancy candles that cost, like, forty dollars.”

 

Hongbin frowned. “Why was that such an in-depth analysis.” But he tweaked the clone according to Wonsik’s instructions, and eventually the vampire took a sniff and deemed it an acceptable copy. Hongbin was tempted to take a photo and text it to the group chat, currently titled with only the sparkle emoji and the eggplant. (He had no idea whose idea that had been; to be honest, it could be in reference to any one of them. He just wished the name would stop changing.)

 

“What’s the range on this thing?” Wonsik asked. Hongbin thought about it, testing the strength of the magic tether connecting him to the fake Hakyeon.

 

“About two miles,” he decided. “But I can hold it for several hours.” He tossed the vampire a look. “Longer if you hold a plant for me.” The combination of his familiarity with Hakyeon and his technical spell casting made the spell fairly manageable, much more so than the Cathedral version of Jaehwan and Sanghyuk. Two people were exponentially more difficult.

 

Wonsik sighed. “Fucking plants,” he mumbled.

 

“I’ll get you a very nice plant,” Hongbin promised. “Benefits of being my boyfriend.”

  


~~~

 

 

 

Hongbin’s extreme hatred of squirrels confused Wonsik. He didn’t see anything wrong with them, to be honest. They didn’t even infest your house like other rodents did. But he let the topic go because his mind was filled with the way Hongbin had said the word _boyfriend._ The way it the word seemed imbued with more importance than was frankly necessary for such a short, two syllable word, the way Hongbin’s voice made it sound all the more magical, the way it held so much promise and significance within nine letters.

 

His musings over Hongbin’s pronunciation of boyfriend distracted him periodically for the remainder of the planning process. All he really retained was, he would not have to carry a plant. (And thank God for that, because the plant Hongbin had in mind was not a plant but a small tree, and Wonsik had not been looking forward to dragging a small tree around New York.) No, Hongbin had forced himself to eat a slightly wilted salad and a bag of carrots, so he should be set for the night. 

 

Hongbin, Wonsik discovered, really hated salad. Even when it had dressing. The only acceptable salads were the ones of the fruit variety. Hongbin couldn’t stand the leafy taste. (Chlorophyll literally turned him green. Wonsik laughed at his little joke. And then cringed.)

 

The two had to wait until at least 11 PM to send out the clone of Hakyeon in order to get the best results, but Hongbin had decided to begin at midnight on the dot. Wonsik suspected it had less to do with better outcomes than his dramatics. But it was Hongbin’s clone, so he went with Hongbin’s plan. (And Hongbin’s plan would likely be better than his anyway.)

 

Hongbin looked morosly at his nearly empty plate of salad. The clock on the wall said 11:45. Wonsik carefully sorted through the black canvas bag stuffed to the bursting with weapons. Hakyeon had left it sitting in front of Hongbin’s apartment the day before he left with Taekwoon, along with a little card blank save for a winky face scribbled in the middle. Wonsik hesitated between gratitude for the weapons and slight fear that Hakyeon had this amount lying around.

 

(To be honest, Wonsik wasn’t all that great with knives or swords. He’d been turned less than twenty years ago and had been raised in a far more modern society than any of the others. Why would he ever have touched a combat knife before? The military had put him through some routine training, knives, swords, hand-to-hand combat, but he had never reached the skill level Hakyeon and Sanghyuk enjoyed. Guns, however, were a different story. Wonsik could shoot a dime off a table from a mile away, with any of the about eighteen guns he’d seen and any of the ones he hadn’t. He wasn’t sure Hongbin knew that yet, actually.)

 

Hongbin, who had pushed his plate of salad away and was testing his control of Hakyeon 2.0, checked the clock again. “Almost time,” he called. “You ready?”

 

Wonsik nodded. Hakyeon’s bag had held a few small handguns, as well as quite a large sniper rifle he wasn’t sure Hakyeon knew he had. But he already had Hongbin covering the ranged attacks so he left the sniper rifle with a sad look and strapped a handgun and a couple knives to his belt. Hopefully Five wasn’t impervious to bullets.

 

“Are you taking guns?” Hongbin asked, confused. “Vampires don’t use guns.”

 

Wonsik took the small gun out and turned it over between his hands. “I can use this better than a knife,” he said. “And most vampires don’t use guns only because most vampires are fighting a fairy, who can destroy the mechanisms in a heartbeat. I’m only shooting another vampire.”

 

Hongbin nodded slowly, and then cocked his head in the way Wonsik was so familiar with, the way that meant something was snapping into place. He reached for the gun. “Would you mind if I spelled this for you?” he asked.

 

“Of course not.” Wonsik handed over the gun. The fairy popped open the barrel and shook the bullets into his palm, skin glowing faintly. He closed his eyes.

 

When he opened them again, the bullets had taken on a faint pearly sheen. Hongbin carefully put them back into the gun. “These should do a bit more damage now,” he said. “I tweaked a medical blood-thinning spell so the wounds should stay open and bleed more.”

 

He handed the gun back to Wonsik and stood up, cracking his neck. Hakyeon 2.0 snapped to attention. The fairy offered Wonsik his hand.

 

“Shall we?”

 

Wonsik let Hongbin tug him to his feet. Hand in hand, with creepy Hakyeon 2.0 following a few feet behind, they walked out of the apartment.

 

 

~~~

 

 

Wonsik has watched Game of Thrones and he loved it. (Except the last season, during which his soul died along with all of his favorite characters.) But right now he was reminded of Melisandre staring into the flames, reciting her spells and telling the onlookers that “The night is dark and full of terrors.” And Wonsik was a vampire, he was used to being the terror in the darkness and not the other way around, and he wasn’t enjoying this feeling of being hunted. Even if it was Hakyeon 2.0 being hunted.

 

Hakyeon 2.0 walked happily down the dark street, hands swinging freely at his sides. Hongbin and Wonsik sat inside a 24 hour cafe, to the disgruntlement of the barista who really just wanted to take a nap. Hongbin had his eyes closed. He was seeing through the eyes of the clone, he’d said. Wonsik couldn’t even imagine how weird that must feel, to be seeing everything but feeling nothing. He sipped his coffee and contemplated how strange it must be to have magic ingrained in your very being, into the atoms of your blood the way Hongbin did. He wondered whether one felt more alive.

 

And then Hongbin flinched in his chair, small sparks flying off his skin, and opened his eyes sharply. For a split second, his eyes were completely black. Hongbin blinked and the shadows retreated into his pupils.

 

Wonsik raised an eyebrow. “Well?” He tried not to think about the blackness of Honbin’s eyes.

 

Hongbin grinned. “Hakyeon’s just been knocked out. Either someone decided to mug him, or Five took the bait. Hook, line, and sinker.”

 

As they left the cafe, Wonsik caught the barista cursing them under his breath.

 

The streets were just as dark as they had been an hour ago. A narrow sliver of the moon shone weakly through the clouds and light pollution. Hongbin squinted. 

 

“I actually don’t really know the way to Central Park,” he admitted. Wonsik laughed, the sudden sound loud in the 1 AM silence.

 

“Good thing I do.” He grabbed Hongbin’s hand, which was small and pale and still felt faintly like magic and sparks, and turned them the correct direction. “It’s on Fifth Ave.”

 

Hongbin frowned. “The Library’s on Fifth Avenue.”

 

“Fifth Avenue is really fucking long,” Wonsik stated. “It has a lot of things.” Hongbin scoffed. “You’re the smartest person I know. You were literally looking at a map earlier.”

 

“That doesn’t mean I care to remember what was on the map,” Hongbin whined.

 

Wonsik laughed, fangs bright in the darkness. “We’re almost there.” And the thought of Five’s lair somewhere in the park was sobering.

 

Hongbin nodded and his eyes went purple. “I can sense Hakyeon 2.0’s trace. Follow me.” He wasn’t controlling the clone anymore, for two reasons. One, because Five had conveniently knocked him out, and two, because the last order he’d given the magic was to _Act Appropriately, in the same form._ So hopefully the magic could take some artistic license, if necessary. Unless someone else gave it an order that somehow overcame Hongbin’s.

 

The park was mostly empty; understandably so, Wonsik thought. And as they approached Five’s lair and the traces grew stronger, so too did a sense of foreboding in the air, weighing it down and promising all sorts of torment. Wonsik shivered and felt for his gun. The weight of it, and the knowledge that Hongbin had spelled it, calmed him.

 

Hongbin stopped so suddenly that Wonsik ran into his back. 

 

“What is it,” he asked.

 

Hongbin put a finger in front of his lips and gestured to the small clearing. A medium sized pavilion, under construction, sat in the middle of a neatly manicured lawn, surrounded by yellow caution tape. The sides were boarded up with wooden planks, the only opening behind a translucent plastic sheet flapping in the slight breeze.

 

It really looked like a scene from a horror movie.

 

“The trace is in there,” Hongbin whispered. “I can feel it.” Wonsik sighed. Of course it had to be in a creepy, boarded-up pavilion. Five couldn’t have picked anywhere else, like a well-lit cafe or a nice hotel. Wonsik realized that the night was silent; no birds sat in the trees, no crickets chirped from the grass. Just silence.

 

Silence and the ever-growing weight of the air pressing down on his shoulders, something akin to white noise crackling in his ears. Odd shadows stretched from beneath crooked trees.

 

“I guess we should go in then…?” Wonsik whispered back. Everything about this was wrong. Everything felt too scripted, too simple. Hongbin nodded and stepped under the caution tape, purple light silencing their footsteps.

 

Hongbin waited behind the plastic tarp, hands glowing purple behind his back. Wonsik silently took his gun off safety, metal cold in his hands. _One_ , Hongbin counted silently. _Two._

 

_Three._

 

Wonsik closed his eyes and Hongbin brushed aside the tarp, in the same movement sending light streaming from his hands, throwing the whole pavilion in stark relief. Wonsik raised his gun and lilac projectiles wavered in the air, ready to shoot whatever moved and-

 

Hakyeon 2.0 smiled back, standing like a statue against the far wall. His fangs flashed as he opened his mouth.

 

The voice that emerged from it was not his own. “Right on time.”

 

“What-” Hongbin began, before a harsh ripping sound rent the air and the plastic tarp behind them drifted to the floor in pieces. Wonsik whipped around, finger already pressing down on the trigger, only to have the gun torn from his hand with inhuman force and flung across the room. 

 

Purple energy shot from the sky but the shadow was too fast and the energy dissipated with a quiet hiss against the wood. Everything was going too fast and yet not fast enough. Wonsik’s head spun, black dots flickered in and out of his vision, purple streams of light and dark shadows danced across the walls while mocking laughs slipped from Hakyeon’s mouth that wasn’t his mouth at all.

 

He wasn’t good with knives but he tried anyway, slicing at the shadow as it streaked forward again, clawed hands reaching for his neck, and the knife clipped the vampire’s temple. Blood sprayed the walls and the floor and the remnants of the plastic tarp dramatically. Head wounds bleed a lot, Wonsik remembered. The Hakyeon that was even more so Not Hakyeon than before clapped happily. The shadow of Five hissed, fingers going to his head and coming away red with blood.

 

A quiet snap, almost unheard amongst the chaos and noise but somehow felt deep in Wonsik’s bones resonated through the air. And then the purple disappeared and all that was left was darkness and a scream.

 

Wonsik had previously been of the mind that the ear-shattering, cringe-inducing noise of nails scraping against a sheet of paper was the worst sound in existence. In this moment, he changed his mind. Hongbin’s scream of pain and confusion and pure terror shook him to his very being and knocked the breath from his lungs. It ripped through his mind and heart like the knife that hung uselessly from his hands, like the gun spinning across the floor and the claws of the vampire stood before him. His world split apart at the seams and there was nothing in the ragged gaps between realities.

 

The scream continued for what felt like an eternity and only a split second. And then it stopped suddenly, as if someone had pressed the mute button. Hongbin stood, eyes wide, staring at his hands held in front of his body. They shook slightly. And Wonsik realized what had happened, even though he had thought it impossible. A fairy’s magic was woven into their very being, every atom laced with the energy and ability, and yet Five had torn it from Hongbin’s blood. Because what was impossible when magic hung in the air?

 

Hongbin gasped brokenly, stumbling against the wall, and a sardonic laugh replaced the heavy silence.

 

“You taste different than your friend,” Five said, sickening smile stretching his thin lips into a horrifying mask. “Floral.”

 

Wonsik couldn’t even think coherently enough to unpack that statement yet. (Later, he would. Later, he would understand, once Sanghyuk returned and everything was in the open. Later, he would want to tear someone limb from limb like Five had torn Hongbin’s magic to shreds.)

 

But now, Wonsik tightened his grip on his knife and lunged at Five, eyes burning, as Hongbin collapsed to the ground, clutching his head.

 

Five spun out of his way and lashed out with a clawed hand as he blew past. Blood dripped into Wonsik’s eyes and fire burned across his forehead. Hakyeon 2.0 laughed, a high-pitched, unnatural sound.

 

“How are you controlling the clone?” Wonsik spit around a mouthful of iron and loathing. He could hear Hongbin’s breaths coming quickly, much too quickly. He stabbed for Five again but the vampire rolled out of the way, leg catching Wonsik in the ribs. He felt a sharp crack.

 

“You’d be surprised what a steady diet of Fae blood can do for you,” Five said. “I can’t wait to taste your friend’s.”

 

Wonsik’s vision turned red with rage and he lunged again. Five laughed coldly. And suddenly, much too fast for Wonsik to see, much faster than a vampire should have been able to move, he lifted Hongbin’s limp body from the ground and wrapped an arm around the fairy’s neck.

 

Wonsik froze, knife still raised. Hongbin remained limp, eyes glazed over and hands shaking minutely.

 

“I would advise you to drop the knife,” Five hissed. “Or your friend loses his life as well as his magic.”

 

Wonsik dropped the knife.

 

“Kick it away,” Five directed.

 

He nudged it with his boot and sent it spinning to join his gun in useless darkness.

 

Five smiled, chipped fang glinting in the dim lighting. “I have a proposition for you.”

 

“Let Hongbin go.” Wonsik tried not to let his fear color his voice, but Five’s eyes shone like he could hear it all the same. “More people are coming. You can’t fight all of us.”

 

“I can taste your lies,” Five said, tongue running over his fangs. Hongbin remained frozen in his grip. “You are the only ones here.”

 

“Let him _go_ ,” Wonsik tried again, taking a stuttering step forward.

 

Five tightened his grip and a bead of blood dripped down Hongbin’s neck onto his shirt. The fairy didn’t make a sound.

 

“Listen to my proposition, and you might get your fairy back.”

 

Wonsik wanted to cry, to scream, to tear this pavilion and the vampire inside it to shreds, but he didn’t have any weapons and he didn’t have any special skills.

 

“Why even ask?” Wonsik said. “Why not just Speak to me?” He had his earpiece in, as did Hongbin, but it seemed that Speech wasn’t the power they should have prepared for.

 

“Because I need your independent thought for this matter,” Five said. “It is very delicate.”

 

Wonsik closed his eyes. “What do you want?” The words burned as they left his mouth, tasted like acrid smoke. Like betrayal. But his loyalty had never been to Taekwoon, or Hakyeon, so who was he really betraying?

 

Five’s thin lips pulled back from his yellowed teeth in the approximation of a smile. “Nothing much,” he said. His voice sounded like dried leaves, shredding in the wind. “I want you to find the last Parliamentarian.”

 

Wonsik blinked. “Six?”

 

He inclined his head slightly. Wonsik frowned, feeling the drying blood on his forehead pull at his skin. "Why can't you find Six on your own?"

 

Five rolled his eyes in a movement that struck Wonsik as incredibly anachronistic. "We have a... difficult relationship, of sorts. It will be easier for you."

 

Hongbin shook his head.

 

“Wonsik-”

 

Five clamped down on his throat, cutting off his voice. “You are not part of this discussion, little fairy.” Hongbin opened his mouth again, but any sound that might have come out was choked off. His eyes stared pleadingly into Wonsik’s. _Don’t do this,_ they said.

 

Wonsik hoped Hongbin would understand. That the fairy would see things from his perspective. Because Wonsik was a vampire; magic ran through his blood and his dead heart and Hongbin _was_ magic. Wonsik lived and breathed magic and he didn’t think he could live without Hongbin’s particular brand of energy, the kind that carried the scent of lavender and somehow burned like a cold fire, just like the fairy’s eyes in this moment. Wonsik begged him to understand.

 

“I can find Six.” They had already been planning on finding Six anyway. He tried to tell himself it wasn’t a big deal, but every instinct in his body rebelled against him.

 

Five smiled. “Wonderful. I knew you would be the sensible one.”

 

“Now let Hongbin go,” Wonsik spit. “I’ve said yes.”

 

“Oh no,” the Parliamentarian said, affected sadness dripping from his voice like sickly sweet poison. “I’m keeping him until you hold up your end of the deal. Insurance, you understand.”

 

Hongbin twisted in his hold to no result. Fairy strength was nothing compared to that of a vampire, much less a Parliamentarian. His collar was stained red like a gruesome necklace.

 

Wonsik stilled. “I can’t just leave-”

 

“You can.” Five’s voice froze Wonsik’s blood in his veins, icy shards stabbing into his heart and lungs. “Or neither of you will.”

 

Wonsik looked desperately at Hongbin. The fairy’s eyes looked different without the faint lilac tint, but blistered with power all the same. A different kind of power, but power nonetheless. He took a step back, toward the empty gap in the wooden boards from which a few scraps of plastic still hung.

 

“Five days from now,” Five said. “On the roof of the Metropolitan Museum. 3 PM. With Six, or your friend dies.”

 

“Why do you want Six?” Wonsik asked. Some part of him hoped that if he could keep Five talking, everything would turn out ok. (But really, he just wanted to watch Hongbin's face for a few more seconds.)

 

“We have history together. But that isn’t your concern.” Wonsik’s breath came fast, too fast for someone who didn’t have a heartbeat and didn’t need oxygen. 

 

“Go,” Hongbin whispered hoarsely, voice so far removed from the musicality Wonsik was used to that it shocked him out of his stupor. “And when you come back, burn this place to the ground.”

 

Wonsik turned and ran with the force of Hongbin's words bringing him strength. And as he sped out into the darkness, Five’s cold laugh echoed from the pavilion on a gust of distorted magic, whispering with promises of dark, twisted things best left in the shadows.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that, folks, is the end of part two. I have a few more chapters planned, but we're coming to the end. to be completely honest, i was hoping to finish writing this over the summer, but seeing as my school starts next week and i have no idea what some plot points will be, i dont see that happening. the next chapter is written, and will be released on time, but after that, i have no guarantees. a huge shout out to everyone who has stuck with it, including you lovely people in the comments.
> 
> thanks for reading :)


	14. Chapter 14

Jaehwan wasn’t on time.

 

He was beginning to think  _ not arriving on time  _ was becoming the defining characteristic of his life. Although really, being ten minutes late to a meeting was inconsequential when held next to the reason for this particular meeting in the first place. 

 

He hadn’t reached Hongbin in time either; no one had.

 

But somehow the office looked the same, unchanging amidst the chaos of Jaehwan’s life. That stupid, blue canvas that probably cost an absurd sum of money stared mockingly at him from the wall.  _ I know my place,  _ it seemed to say.  _ Find yours. _

 

Jaehwan really wanted his place to be here, in the grey office with his friends (and Sanghyuk), but currently, this room with its presiding grim atmosphere was at the other end of the spectrum of  _ Places Jaehwan Wants To Be. _

 

Everyone was here. Everyone except Hongbin, of course, for obvious reasons, and it was all Jaehwan’s fault, as Wonsik had said. Jaehwan was inclined to agree.

 

Sanghyuk had still to meet his eyes; he kept his gaze on the table, at the pen flipping over his knuckles, at the wood grain stained dark.

 

“I want Jaehwan  _ out,”  _ Wonsik growled, nails almost clawing scratches into the metal of his chair. “Who knows what else he’s told Five.” And the normally calm vampire, the level-headed voice of reason amongst their odd group, was like a new person to Jaehwan.

 

“I’ve told you everything,” Jaehwan said. 

 

“Excuse me if I don’t take your word for it,” the vampire spit. 

 

Hakyeon placed a hand on Wonsik’s shoulder. “Easy,” he muttered, although his eyes still regarded Jaehwan with a cold light. Wonsik jerked out of Hakyeon’s grasp.

 

“Why is no one taking this seriously?” he asked the room at large, eyes wide. “Hongbin is  _ gone,  _ and if Jaehwan’s best friend wasn’t the commander he’d be charged with treason right now!” 

 

Taekwoon flinched slightly. Jaehwan didn’t want to know what the fairy thought of him. And even though he didn’t look at him, Jaehwan could feel the pity pouring from Taekwon’s eyes. He didn’t want pity, but he couldn’t say what he wanted instead. (Rather, he didn’t really want to acknowledge that the only thing he wanted, person he wanted, hadn’t met his eyes once yet.)

 

“He’s not going to be charged with treason,” Taekwoon stated.

 

“Why not,” Wonsik hissed through his fangs. “That’s what he did; he betrayed us, for nothing, resulting in the capture of a member of the team, whom none of you seem to care about-”

 

Taekwoon slammed his hand down on the table, cutting Wonsik off mid-rant. His eyes burned with a fire Jaehwan hadn’t seen in a while. 

 

“I have known Hongbin for longer than you have been alive,  _ vampire, _ do not presume that you have an exclusive claim on his heart. Do not insult the depth of feeling I hold for him.” 

 

Wonsik sat back in his chair, breathing hard. Taekwoon’s expression gentled slightly. “We will get him back, I promise. How, I don’t know yet, but it will happen.”

 

“Nothing’s impossible,” Hakyeon commented. “And there’s only one of Five.” In a different time the odd combination of numbers would have made Jaehwan laugh. It didn’t now.

 

“Not for nothing.”

 

The soft voice cut through the tense atmosphere. They were the first words Sanghyuk had spoken since the meeting began.

 

Jaehwan let out a breath. “What?”

 

“He didn’t betray us for nothing.”

 

Wonsik shook his head. “He gained nothing from Five.”

 

Sanghyuk’s lips flattened into a thin line. “Except our lives.”

 

Jaehwan’s chest tightened as Sanghyuk continued speaking. Sanghyuk, who had trusted him with his secrets in their convoluted game of lies, the last person Jaehwan had ever expected to defend him. His eyes prickled. He didn’t think he could vocalize what the words meant to him.

 

“I- I thought I was doing the only thing I could,” he said, quietly. “I was mistaken.”

 

“An understatement,” Wonsik snapped. The vampire didn’t look good; dark circles hung under his eyes, eyes that looked bloodshot and tired.

 

Jaehwan fought to speak against the tightness in his throat. “I am  _ so sorry,  _ Wonsik, and I know you don’t believe me, and I don’t fault you for it, but I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to help Hongbin. He’s like a brother to me.”

 

(Jaehwan was 114 years old. He lived through both World Wars and the construction and subsequent destruction of countless memorials since. He spent more than half his life wandering the world with Hongbin and Taekwoon. The word  _ brother  _ barely began to describe what lived in his heart.)

 

Wonsik said nothing.

 

From across the table, Hakyeon shrugged. “I probably would’ve done the same thing, you know.”

 

Taekwoon frowned. “You would’ve given Five what he wanted?”

 

A nod. “I’m not Fae, so I don’t know what it feels like to have your magic stripped from you, and I don’t know how Jaehwan felt.” His gaze went distant, eyes clouding over. “But I’ve felt the liquid fire of starvation burning through my veins and I can imagine it feels a bit like that. I know the Parliament, and I know Five, and I know how his presence makes your throat tight with the scent of death. And I’ve seen what happens to people who try to resist his orders.”

 

Jaehwan blinked. He hadn’t expected Hakyeon to be the one to understand, but the vampire’s words painted a distressingly accurate portrait of that night on the sidewalk.

 

Taekwoon made to ask a question, mouth opening, but something in Hakyeon’s eyes made him hesitate.

 

Hakyeon continued. “Not that that excuses him, but I think he had our interests at heart.”

 

“Not Hongbin’s!” Wonsik protested, voice high. “Hongbin could be  _ dead,  _ for all we know.”

  
Jaehwan narrowed his eyes, patience fraying at the seams. “ _ I’m  _ not the one who abandoned him to Five. You played a part in this just as much as I did. What did you promise Five, again? That you’d find Six?”

 

“He would’ve killed Hongbin,” Wonsik seethed. “I was protecting him.”

 

“I was doing the same thing! Don’t you see?” Jaehwan exclaimed.

 

Wonsik jerked out of his chair, knocking it to the floor with a sharp crash. “You were protecting nothing but your own life.”

 

“I was protecting  _ everyone’s  _ lives,” Jaehwan hissed, pupils bleeding green into the whites of his eyes. A faint haze edged into his field of vision. “We are not that different, you and I.”

 

Wonsik’s eyes flashed with anger and fangs slipped out over his lips, voice a low growl. “How dare you-”

 

“Enough!” Hakyeon shouted, standing up. “Sit down, Wonsik. Jaehwan, turn it off. You’re giving me a headache.”

 

Wonsik glared at Hakyeon, but he picked up his chair and sat down. His canines remained unnaturally sharp. The bitter scent of mint slowly faded from the air. Sanghyuk, Jaehwan suddenly realized, also had his fangs out, muscles tensed as if ready to burst into movement at the slightest indication of… something.

 

Taekwoon spoke quietly in the thick silence of the room. “I think we should leave the question of discipline for after we get Hongbin back.”

 

“I think we should decide right here, right now,” Wonsik said. 

 

“I think you should chill out and realize that every single one of us wants the best for Hongbin, and Jaehwan’s magic will be nothing but another sorely needed advantage over Five.” Sanghyuk’s voice was cold, colder than Jaehwan had ever heard it. He tried to meet the vampire’s eyes, give some indication of how much the words meant to him, but Sanghyuk still refused to look at him.

 

Wonsik’s jaw tensed, but he said nothing. The barest hint of red in his eyes was the only indication of his anger.

 

“Wonderful.” Hakyeon’s false cheer rattled Jaehwan. “Now I think we should move to the more pressing matter of deciding our next course of action.”

 

Taekwoon sighed. “We have two options. One, find Six, or two, somehow kill Five.”

 

“There are only five of us, and he can rip magic from two of us. How are we meant to kill him?” Wonsik asked.

 

“Six,” Sanghyuk muttered.   
  


Hakyeon narrowed his eyes. “I’m sorry? I haven’t been to school in decades but I do think there are only five of us.”

 

“I called a friend,” Sanghyuk said. “She’s outside right now.”

 

Hakyeon shook his head slowly. “Sanghyuk, please tell me you didn’t-”

 

“She said she can help, and she knew everything about the Parliament. It would be a waste to not use her.” Hakyeon opened his mouth, but Sanghyuk kept talking. “And she killed Four already. On her own.”

 

Jaehwan’s eyes widened as the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place. “No, Sanghyuk-” (His name tasted strange on Jaehwan’s tongue.) “I don’t think she’s-”

 

Taekwoon sighed. “I’m sorry, who are we talking about?”

 

Wonsik shrugged.

 

And then the office door opened. Her shoes brought back memories of a rain soaked alleyway and the devastating pain in Jaehwan’s chest that Jaehwan sincerely wanted to forget.

 

Three vampires and two fairies stared blankly at the woman standing before them, hip cocked to the side and heels cutting into the carpet.

 

“What a warm welcome,” she said, grinning. Her fangs glinted in the artificial light. “It’s wonderful to meet you all. My name is Gahyeon.”

 

Hakyeon was the first to recover use of his voice. “No hard feelings, but please know that I don’t believe for one second that your real name is Gahyeon.” His gaze suggested that Gahyeon’s name wasn’t the only thing he didn’t trust.

 

“Of course,” Gahyeon said, casually taking a seat in the only empty chair. (Hongbin’s chair, but no one was about to tell her that.) “But please know that it is my real name.”

 

And honestly, she didn’t sound like she was lying.

 

“No offense intended, but I would like to say that your security downstairs is severely lacking,” the newcomer said.

 

Wonsik frowned. “In what way can that be  _ not  _ offensive?”

 

“If they had the money it would be better,” Hakyeon muttered under his breath. Taekwoon tossed him an irritated look.

 

“Why are you so willing to help us?” He asked, fingers laced together.

 

“Oh, I just really don’t like the Parliament. Particularly Five.” She cocked her head to the side. “That is the number you’ve given him, right?”

 

Wonsik nodded.

 

“Well, what’s your plan?” Jaehwan didn’t like the way Gahyeon spoke. It reminded him too much of Five. Not her words, per se, but the way she said them with such confidence. The confidence that only came from knowing that no one would question you.

 

Taekwoon hesitated to answer, and Sanghyuk beat him to it.

 

“I was hoping you would help with that,” he said, slowly. “Do you think it would be easier to double-cross Five and try to get our friend back, or try to capture Six?”

 

Gahyeon rested her chin in one elegantly manicured hand. “You promised you would find Six?”

 

“It was the only way,” Wonsik cut in.

 

Gahyeon smirked slightly. “I’m sure it was.” Wonsik narrowed his eyes.

 

“I would suggest going for Five,” Gahyeon said, ignoring Wonsik’s heated gaze. “Who knows what Five would do once has Six. Best to just kill him now then wait and have to do it later.”

 

“Could you help us find Six?” Jaehwan asked. 

 

Gahyeon looked at him with something akin to sadness in her eyes. “Six is enjoying not being found,” she said.

 

“And I’m sure Hongbin is enjoying his captivity, but someone’s got to give,” Wonsik bit out. “I’d rather it be Six, wherever he’s hiding.”

 

“He’s not hiding,” Gahyeon said, voice cold.

 

“How were you able to kill Four?” Hakyeon asked suddenly, eyes guarded. “He would have been way to powerful for one vampire.”

 

And pieces were clicking into place, the picture suddenly becoming clear to Jaehwan. Color drained from his skin and his eyes widened.

 

Wonsik pushed forward, mouth moving before his brain had the chance to. “Then where is Six, huh? How come he hasn’t been seen with the Parliament for decades-”

 

“Wonsik,” Hakyeon hissed. “Wonsik, stop-”

 

“-how come he’s never around-”

 

Jaehwan jerked back from the table and mint spread through the air, sour and tainted with fear.

 

“Why’s he being so  _ cowardly-” _

 

“You should stop moving your tongue before you lose it, little vampire.” Gahyeon’s voice silenced every other sound in the room, deadly sharp. She didn’t move, but her stillness was just as threatening. Wonsik froze, realizing the state of the room.

 

Jaehwan, half out of his chair, tried to calm his racing heart and draw the mint from the air. He wasn’t sure it was working.

 

“Before you continue criticizing my actions, perhaps you’d like to remember how much I’ve done for you.”

 

Wonsik’s eyes widened. “Oh my god,” he breathed. A heavy silence fell over the room. Even the city that never slept seemed to go silent for a second as the realization of the creature that sat at the table with them came to light.

  
Hakyeon stood slowly and bowed, every movement made carefully nonthreatening. “It’s an honor to formally meet you, Parliamentarian.”

 

Gahyeon inclined her head. “Captain Cha. What strange company you keep, these days.”

 

Sanghyuk belatedly rose and offered the Parliamentarian a small bow, although his was more subdued. “I appreciate your help so far.”

 

“At least someone does,” Gahyeon said pointedly. Wonsik remained seated, the only vampire not to bow.

 

Jaehwan’s breath came fast, static rushing through his ears. Part of him kept reaching for his magic, reassuring himself every time that it was still there. Gahyeon cocked her head.

 

“You may sit, fairy. I’m not going to hurt you.”

 

Jaehwan haltingly took a seat, eyes panicked.

  
“I don’t have the same powers Five has acquired. If I had known about them I would have told you.”

 

Sanghyuk nodded slightly. “Do you know why…?”

 

“Why he can rip magic from Fae?” Gahyeon finished. “I have to assume it comes from drinking Fae blood. Or,” she amended, “blood from any other magical creature.” Her forehead wrinkled slightly. “Maybe the powers depend on what you drink from,” she muttered, lost in thought.

 

“I saw him controlling Hakyeon’s clone,” Wonsik offered, in the first helpful sentence he’d said all day. “Telling the magic what to do.”

 

Hakyeon choked. “You made a clone of me?”

 

“To bait Five-”

 

“You did not have my permission to do that-”

 

Wonsik frowned. “Why would we need your permission?”   
  
“It’s my body!” Hakyeon protested, hands waving helplessly through the air like he could convey the depths of the indignation upon his person.

 

“It’s Hongbin’s magic-”

 

“Magic he may never get back if you two don’t shut up,” Sanghyuk interrupted.

 

Hakyeon wrinkled his nose, but shut up.

 

“Is that possible?” Taekwoon asked. “For the magic to never be returned.” Jaehwan wondered how Taekwoon could  _ possibly  _ be taking this as calmly as he was.   
  
Gahyeon shrugged. “How should I know? I’m neither Fae nor whatever Five is now, because he’s surely not a vampire.”

 

“Best guess,” Jaehwan managed, voice rough.

 

“I’d say that, if left too long, it would be possible that the magic is absorbed into Five himself.” Jaehwan flinched. “But,” Gahyeon continued, “I don’t know how long that could take, whether we’re talking ten days, or ten hours.”

 

Taekwoon frowned. “Every fairy innately has residual magic in their blood, though, so Five can always decide to give the magic back and it would take.”

 

“True,” Gahyeon said. “But not if he’s dead.”

 

Jaehwan let out a quiet squeak.

 

“You’re saying it’s possible that if we kill Five, Hongbin’s magic dies with him?” Wonsik asked, hesitantly.

 

She clapped her hands. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. You guys had better hurry the fuck up then, yeah?”

 

“Yeah,” Jaehwan echoed faintly.

  
  


~~~

  
  


 

It was hard to think.

 

It was hard to think around the portion of Sanghyuk’s mind that positively  _ screamed  _ at him to look at Jaehwan, make sure he’s alright, because he was obviously distraught about something more than Hongbin’s capture, something Gahyeon brought into the room with her, but he couldn’t bring himself to listen.

 

(People had all of these assumptions of what vampires should be like. Movies, TV shows, YA books that shouldn’t have been written in the first place. And ignoring all of that sparkly nonsense, Samghyuk had found that vampirism simply… slowed things down. He saw everything with a kind of clarity he’d never had before. With the slowness came the never-ending boredom, but often times green sparks of magic and the smell of mint were enough to fix that. Looking at Gahyeon, with her dark eyes and red nails and 600 years passing at the rate of eternity, he wondered how she had kept any shreds of humanity. Or maybe she hadn’t, and was simply a very good actor.)

 

He saw green on Jaehwan’s fingertips, like he was constantly tapping into his reserves of power, and he knew that if he looked at the fairy’s eyes, that same panicked green would ring his pupils, but he didn’t look. Because he didn’t want to know what else hid in Jaehwan’s eyes.

 

It took far too long for him to gather the courage to speak, but in his defense, he was also gathering the courage to bear the weight of Jaehwan’s gaze. Sanghyuk knew how risky it was, to give the fairy hope in their relationship, but Wonsik was being a  _ dick,  _ and it was perfectly within his rights to defend Jaehwan as the fairy’s Former Best Friend And Occasionally Something More. (And, to be honest, Sanghyuk wanted there to be hope for their relationship.)

 

It was different, forcing himself to not look at Jaehwan; like a part of him was rebelling against itself. (He hadn’t known much his movements had orbited around the fairy, and the fairy around him, until he spun out of trajectory. But the force of gravity is strong and Sanghyuk could feel it tugging at the seams of his very person.)

 

And he was beginning to realize that Five had left a stronger mark on Jaehwan than anyone had guessed. It was all coming together, the twitchyness at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the way the smell of bitter mint came and went with Gahyeon (now Six), the way he touched his magic like he was making sure it was still there. 

 

“You guys better hurry the fuck up then, yeah?” Gahyeon’s clap cut through his thoughts, and the hesitancy in Jaehwan’s response confirmed his suspicions of the fairy’s fears.

 

“I have a question,” Taekwoon said, as calmly as he’d been this whole time. Some part of Sanghyuk wished this little surprise had been enough to shock the stoic fairy a little. Gahyeon gestured for Taekwoon to continue. 

 

“Why does Five want you so badly? And why haven’t you met with the Parliament in decades?”

 

Hakyeon sat forward. “And,” the vampire said, “the Parliament was established in the 15th century. We assumed you were a man, and you have our sincere apologies, but it wasn’t a random guess.”

 

“It’s a common assumption,” Gahyeon said. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs casually. “And it’s not a long story, actually.” The Parliamentarian paused, grinning slightly. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to tell it. So exciting.”

 

Jaehwan, Sanghyuk noticed, was sitting on the very edge of his seat, like he was about to yeet out of there at the slightest indication of trouble.

 

Gahyeon turned to him. “Would you like to help me…?”

 

“Jaehwan,” Jaehwan said, softly. His voice didn’t sound like his own, but rather some thinner, watery copy.

 

“Of course. Would you like to help me, Jaehwan?” His name sounded odd in Gahyeon’s mouth. Bleaker, somehow, not descriptive at all of the fairy normally so filled with light.

 

Jaehwan shook his head. “I’d really rather not.”

 

Cocking her head slightly, Gahyeon raised an eyebrow, but said nothing else to him. She stood up and walked to Taekwoon, offering her hand palm up. “Care to assist?”

 

Taekwoon said nothing but took her hand nonetheless. Sanghyuk side-eyed Hakyeon, whose hands clenched tightly in his lap. The second he caught Sanghyuk watching he relaxed his fingers and rolled his eyes.

 

Gahyeon sighed as Taekwoon’s magic ran through her. “Just take what I give you, ok? It won’t be long.”

 

And then the room plunged into darkness.

  
  


~~~

  
  


It was too dark. The kind of darkness Sanghyuk never experienced anymore as a creature of the night, and it made him nervous. He could still feel the chair beneath him and the table in front, but not seeing them was disconcerting.

 

And suddenly he could see again, but it wasn’t the office anymore.

 

His feet rested in a pile of dead leaves. He was standing, and his inner ear spun at the sudden change in position without intentional movement. Trees cut through the brightening sky, nearly bereft of leaves. It must be nearly winter. (Although Sanghyuk couldn’t feel the temperature; he couldn’t feel anything, actually. He was quickly deciding he didn’t much like this spell.)

 

A girl stood in the middle of the small clearing, feet bare, clothed in things Sanghyuk had only ever seen in museums. She stood unmoving for several seconds, until Sanghyuk heard a faint voice calling to her in a language he didn’t recognize. She burst into motion, hair and clothes flying out behind her in chaotic tangles, and she almost looked like a bird as the wind carried her into-

 

A classroom, or the ancient Korean version of one, a book of some sort in the girl’s lap, written in something that wasn’t quite Hangul. Her spine was ramrod straight, pressed against the back of the wooden seat rigidly, dark hair tied back into a harsh knot at the back of her head. Even her fingers bent at angles, everything austere and uncompromising. The teacher smiled at her and gestured with sharp movements.

 

Sharp movements mirrored in a man Sanghyuk assumed to be the girl’s father, eyes cold and mouth set in a grim line. The girl sat stubbornly at the table, stained dark and set with porcelain, and didn’t meet his eyes. Sanghyuk looked closer and watched as she tied and untied a piece of yarn wrapped around her hand, countless knots forming under her small fingers.

 

The scene melted into a sunset and the girl was older now and dressed in red and white, skirts flying amongst her feet as she stepped carefully through a dance. Her partner smiled and spun her on his arm. Gifts were exchanged. The pair drank from a gourd filled with what Sanghuyk thought was wine. The girl’s eyes clouded over.

 

The scene shifted again and Sanghyuk winced at the spinning in his head. He stood in a house, muted colors blending into each other without care. The girl sat at a desk, brush raised over a piece of paper, sleeves carefully pulled back to prevent ink from splattering. The man smiled at her. She smiled back. A perfect smile, carefully cultivated and practiced for hours. The man couldn’t tell the difference.

 

And then darkness dripped into the picture like the ink from her brush, bleeding into all the hidden corners. It came in the form of a man, impossible to tell his age, not young but not what one would call old. Sanghyuk recognized Five not from the man’s face but from his movements, the way he walked with eternity in his footsteps and entropy following. Five smiled, and his fangs were perfect. The girl, now woman, smudged ink over her paper.

 

Red streaks ripped apart the darkness just as her husband lay ripped apart on the bed, blood splattering the walls in disarray. The woman revelled in it, head thrown back and arms raised like wings, hair splayed across her face and shoulders. Wind whipped through the room and she laughed, smiling in a way Sanghyuk hadn’t seen since she was a little girl flying through the trees. Five laughed with her, and he was still laughing as his fangs bit into her neck.

 

Everything blurred. Years passed in the blink of an eye. The house crumbled to ruin and was rebuilt. The sky changed with the seasons and the woman saw them all, flying through the trees in a flash of red and black, and then more red than anything else. A tangled ribbon knotted around her wrist. And then the scene slowed, coming to a stop in a clearing similar to the original one. Five stepped from the trees, hands enticing the woman palm up to come to his side. She took his hand.

 

Five and the woman snuck through the night, hands curled into claws and fangs bared. They reached out and ripped apart two men in top hats and long coats, coats now dripping with red.

 

And suddenly, the rigidness and structure was back; long wooden tables, cold-eyed men, hard chairs, times and dates and things to do and places to be and it was just all too much. Papers turned to war plans, numbers to lists of the dead. The woman stormed out of the room, tearing a braid from her hair savagely. Five emerged like an ink spill, that condescending smile glued on his lips, and the woman swung around and punched him in the face with the force of what a thousand words could not convey. Sanghyuk’s eyes widened.

 

When Five looked up, blood streaking his lips and jaw, his snarl was lopsided.

 

Gahyeon shook out her hair and left the room, blood staining her knuckles. The scene disappeared.

  
  


~~~

 

It was all a bit much for Hakyeon. After all, it was only a few days ago that he realized Taekwoon’s magic ran through his blood, and suddenly here he was, having a chat with a rouge Parliamentarian and trying to rescue Hongbin. And a clone of himself? Really?  _ That  _ was all a scientist with 3 pHDs could think of?

 

Was there a bet going on that he didn’t know about, competing to see who could stress him out the most? Jaehwan leaking secrets, Hongbin getting captured, Sanghuk calling Gahyeon, who was apparently a  _ fucking Parliamentarian  _ (who had punched out Five’s fang? What the  _ fuck? _ ), and then him having magic? What was the world coming to.

 

Not that he had much magic in the first place. As far as he’d been able to understand, his drinking of Taekwoon’s blood as his first meal had coded his body to remember it, and keep a little more of it than most vampires had. Which would explain his resistance to smaller magic and Speech. Not that it mattered when Five could steal magic, but whatever. Hakyeon got to be some kind of fairy-vampire hybrid now, albeit not a very strong fairy. Like, pixie level fairy.

 

Pixie-vampire? Didn’t sound quite as badass.

 

When the last few wisps of another time cleared from the air, Hakyeon blinked a few times. The trip down memory lane had been… disorienting, to say the least. Jaehwan looked a little pale. Taekwoon looked as unbothered as usual. Wonsik seemed a little shocked.

 

“You fucking punched out Five’s fang.” Sanghyuk’s voice held a sort of child-like wonder.

 

Gahyeon winked. “I fucking did.”

 

What strange company he kept these days.

 

“Sorry,” Jaehwan said, “But can someone summarize that for me, because that seemed like a really unnecessary way of explaining things.”

 

“Five turned me in the 1400’s,” Gahyeon said. Hakyeon noticed she skipped over her whole childhood. And the death of her husband, although some part of him knew she wasn’t too upset about that particular event. “He said it would set me free, and it did. He convinced me that killing two current Parliamentarians would be best, so we did. I got tired of listening to him. The structure, the rules. And then the Parliament passed into dictator territory and I decided I had had enough. He hadn’t, but his opinion wasn’t enough to keep me interested.”

 

“So you punched him in the face and left,” Jaehwan stated.   
  
“I did.”

 

Jaehwan clapped, a shadow of his old self peaking through. “You’ve done the world a great service.” 

 

Gahyeon frowned. “I wasn’t doing it for the world.”

 

And maybe she hadn’t been, but Hakyeon still felt better knowing that someone had left a permanent mark on Five. That fang would never heal.

 

“Ok,” Wonsik cut in. “That’s great, nice work, congrats and all that, but we still need to rescue Hongbin.”

 

“We haven’t forgotten.” Taekwoon regarded Gahyeon with a new light in his eyes. Some kind of appraisal. And perhaps… appreciation.

 

“Did Five say anything else?” Sanghyuk asked, fidgeting with his pen again. Hakyeon wondered if the vampire knew it was one of his tells. He was nervous about something, and Hakyeon would bet his entire knife collection it had something to do with the stressed fairy sitting across from him.

 

“Just that he wanted us to meet him three days from now, at the Met, at 3 PM. With Six.”

 

“I hope you know there is no way I will be going as your hostage in this little Godfather moment,” Gahyeon stated flatly. 

 

“Yes,” Wonsik sighed, “Obviously now that we know-”

 

“What if you did?”

 

Taekwoon’s voice cut Wonsik off mid-sentence. Gahyeon raised an eyebrow.

 

“Come again?”

 

“What if you did go as our hostage,” Taekwoon explained, hands raised palm up like he was entreating them to listen. “Go as our hostage and we can spring a trap on him. Catch him off guard.”

 

Gahyeon shook her head. “Hate to break it to you, buddy, but he’s millennia  old. He isn’t going to fall for the  _ Hey Look It’s Your Hostage, Surprise! Lol It’s Not _ trick that works on other people. He’s going to be expecting every eventuality.”

 

“That he knows of.”

 

And, oh, Hakyeon was beginning to realize where this was going, and he wasn’t sure he liked the direction.

 

Gahyeok frowned. “Well, yes, but I assure you, there isn’t much you could do that he wouldn’t know about-“

 

To Hakyeon’s surprise, Taekwoon interrupted Gahyeon. “Hakyeon has magic.”

 

Hakyeon coughed. “I would say that hypothetically, my blood is conducive to magic.”

 

The Parliamentarian raised an elegant eyebrow. “You just get more interesting by the second, Captain.”

 

“Excuse me, but what the fuck?” Jaehwan raised a hand. “You have magic?”

 

“I  _ said,  _ my blood is conducive to magic-“

 

“Bro, you’re a fairy-vamp, that’s  _ wild,”  _ Sanghyuk said, laughter in his voice, and Hakyeon didn’t appreciate the new title but he was glad Sanghyuk was laughing. 

 

“How did this happen?” Wonsik asked. “I had a whole intro class on vampire development from NYSA and they said it was impossible for vampires to have magic, but their information seems to get worse everyday.”

 

“You were actually the one who dropped the idea on us,” Hakyeon said. Best to give credit where credit was due. “First blood, and all that.”

 

“Your first blood was  _ Fae?”  _ Hakyeon has not yet seen Gahyeon surprised by anything, but now she was. 

 

“That’s what surprising? Not that we’ve killed four Parliamentarians-“

 

“Three,” Sanghyuk muttered under his breath. 

 

“Or that we’re about to kill Five to rescue a Fae scientist? You’re surprised that I drank fairy blood?”

 

Gahyeon spread her hands. “What can I say. If there’s anything I’ve learned from the Parliament, it’s that walls don’t break easy. In 600 years, I have never met a Fae who allowed a newborn vampire to feed on them. And I must say, this little club you guys have going on?” She gestured around at the table. “Don’t see too many of these either.”

 

“Product of circumstance,” Taekwoon said. “Both of those events.”

 

Circumstance, in Hakyeon’s educated opinion, was just a coward’s way of saying fate. And wasn’t it odd that fairies, with all their magic and power, found fate hard to believe in.

 

Gahyeon’s lips spread into a little smile. “To be sure.”

 

“But Five wouldn’t ever think that a vampire would be able to use magic, right? The only reason he can is because he’s been eating faeries.” Sanghyuk asked. 

 

“He wouldn’t,” Gahyeon mused. “And he was always of the mind that he knew everything.”

 

“So, if we taught Hakyeon a spell,” Jaehwan began, “We could actually take Five by surprise.”

 

Clearing his throat loudly, Hakyeon said, “Let it be known that I have never tried to use magic, nor do I have confidence that I even can.”

 

“Not with that attitude.”

 

Hakyeon was seriously going to defenestrate Jaehwan one of these days. And enjoy every second of it.

 

“It’s the only secret weapon we have, Hakyeon.” Taekwoon’s voice was a fucking secret weapon and it wasn’t fair. “Please try?” Hakyeon wanted to mcfucking die. 

 

And then Sanghyuk, bitch ass Sanghyuk, smirked and made eyes at Hakyeon. “Please try, Hakyeonnie? For me?”

 

Hakyeon hissed and raised his hand sharply. Sanghyuk ducked away, laughing quietly. 

 

“I think it’s worth a shot,” Wonshik offered. “And we have Gahyeon, who could help too, right?”

 

She nodded. “I’d love the chance to punch out his other fang. Balance everything out.” She smiled savagely and Hakyeon suddenly saw the shadow of the 600 years she had lived, and the atmosphere felt a little heavier. The image of the house painted red flashed behind his eyes. The time and location might have been different, but the woman who had bled herself dry for wings was the same. The eyes were the same. 

 

And with a quiet shiver, the plan started coming together.

 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow gahyeon's backstory was one of my favorite things to write. was it a surprise? I know some people figured it out early.
> 
> school has started... and with the homework and long hours of stress comes... drumroll.. less time for writing!! but guess what- i really love to write and i love to write this story so i will continue doing my best to update when i can and as fast as possible. i hope some happy balance can be achieved. Thanks everyone for reading so far and sticking with my sort of plot :)


	15. Chapter 15

 

Taekwoon imagined he could feel Hakyeon’s presence. And it took him a second to remember that it wasn’t actually his imagination but his magic coursing through the vampire’s veins.

 

“I fucking hate magic,” the vampire in question cursed, hands clenched into tight fists.

 

“It works better if you stay calm-” Taekwoon tried, but Hakyeon just groaned. 

 

“I am calm! I am so calm I could achieve  _ Nirvana  _ right now, Taek, can’t you tell?”

 

Taekwoon sighed. They’d been at this for hours already, Hakyeon sitting cross-legged in front of him on a yoga mat on the floor of his apartment. (It was a nice apartment. Taekwoon appreciated his taste. And the Dracula pun.) A fishbowl sat in front of them.

 

“You just have to call for it, feel inside yourself for the magic.” Taekwoon wasn’t a teacher. He had never wanted to be a teacher, and Hakyeon was most definitely not helping that decision. 

 

“You’ve told me to just  _ feel _ the magic maybe five times now, don’t you have any other way to explain it?” Hakyeon squeezed his eyes shut again, knuckles going white. Taekwoon shook his head. 

 

“All Fae intrinsically know how to access their magic from a young age,” he said. “I have no  idea how to explain the feeling that to me comes so naturally to someone who wasn’t born using it.”

 

Hakyeon sighed, flexing his hands. For all that he said he was calm, Taekwoon could read tension in every line of his body. And unfortunately, he had no idea how to help.

 

“I only have to learn this one spell, right?” Hakyeon asked, although he definitely knew the answer already from the multitudes of times they had gone over the plan. “The freezing one?”

 

Taekwoon nodded, resisting the overpowering urge to take Hakyeon’s hands in his own, knowing it would interrupt the vampire’s mindset. He waited a few more seconds as Hakyeon’s face went through several phases of consternation before stopping him gently.

 

“Your ring finger is out of place,” Taekwoon said, wincing slightly at Hakyeon’s glare.

 

“I’ll knock your nose out of place,” the vampire muttered, but he adjusted his fingers accordingly. Even so, the attempt was painful for Taekwoon to watch. Hakyeon stuttered clumsily through movements baby Fae could do with their eyes closed, awkwardly twisting his fingers through a rough approximation of the correct motion.

 

“You know what?” Taekwoon said suddenly, interrupting the quiet of the room. Hakyeon jumped slightly. “Let’s do it this way.”

 

Without waiting for Hakyeon’s response, Taekwoon grabbed his hands and held them tightly. “Now try.”

 

With a frown, Hakyeon asked, “How am I supposed to do the spell if I can’t move my hands?”

 

Taekwoon blinked and the world around them froze, dust particles hanging in the air. The fish in the small bowl, clinging onto life with some supernatural determination, hung motionless in its tank, bubbles hovering in the water around it. Hakyeon rolled his eyes, because of course he would roll his eyes in the face of such a casual display of power.

 

“Of course  _ you  _ can do magic like that, Taek, but I’ve never done a spell in my life. How can you expect me to do something that advanced? Hongbin even has trouble with motionless magic.”

 

“Just listen to me, ok?” Taekwoon asked, fingers rubbing gently over the thin bones of Hakyeon’s hand. “Just listen to my voice and my words.”

 

Hakyeon sighed.

 

“Close your eyes.” A moment of hesitation, but slowly Hakyeon’s eyelashes fluttered down. Taekwoon waited a few seconds, for Hakyeon to become accustomed to the nothingness, to become aware of the room. As a spy, he was already farther along than others were.

 

Taekwoon also closed his eyes, calling upon his own experience. “Imagine,” he began, “winter.” Hakyeon scoffed slightly, but said nothing else. Taekwoon continued. “Imagine the cold, the snow, the frost, the ice. And not only how it looks. Imagine how it feels, the biting wind, numb fingers, dry skin. Remember how last year, in Central Park, snow fell for days on end and buried the ground and trees in white.” Maybe it was Taekwoon’s imagination, but the temperature in the room seemed to drop.

 

“Remember when we first met. It was September, and it was cold. The city seemed slower than normal. That’s the feeling you want. The slowness, the stillness, the quiet of a world muffled with snow.” Taekwoon cracked an eye open to watch Hakyeon. The vampire’s eyes moved beneath his eyelids. The fish swam slowly through the bowl.

 

“Now reach into yourself and ask your magic to bring that feeling into being. You can imagine a bucket bringing water from a well, or calling a literal phone or something, whatever works, but you need to call for it.”   
  


Hakyeon’s forehead wrinkled slightly and his fingers twitched in Taekwoon’s hands.

 

“I don’t-” Hakyeon began haltingly, eyes squeezed closed, “-I don’t think I can do this, Taek.”

 

And with a gasp he opened his eyes, glanced at the fish still swimming through its bowl, oblivious to the emotional distress it was causing, and fell back onto the ground with a huff. Taekwoon melted into the floor next to him. He needed some water. That was more talking than he normally did.

 

“We need a new plan,” Hakyeon said, watching the ceiling fan spin around and around.

 

“I think you can do it.”

 

“I think you’re delusional.”

 

Taekwoon coughed around his dry throat. “I hope not. Or else Handong will really have a reason to make me step down.” He didn’t mean to say that. He squinted at Hakyeon to see if he noticed. Of course he had.

 

“What?” Hakyeon pushed himself up on his elbows, hair falling into his eyes. “Step down?”

 

Taekwoon laughed bitterly. “Our actions don’t  _ not  _ have consequences, Hakyeon, you just haven’t seen them.” Hakyeon opened his mouth to protest but Taekwoon didn’t give him the opportunity. “I’ve been accused of negligence, mainly from Handong and her supporters, but it’s not a light matter. If the killings of Fae don’t stop, they’re going to install her in my place.” A wry grin spread across his lips. “And then you’re going to have a new commander to deal with.”

 

“Taek, they can’t just-”

 

“They can, if Handong gets enough votes. And really, I’d vote for her if I was in their position.”

 

Hakyeon blinked. “The vampires haven’t said anything…”

 

“I mean this in the best way, Hakyeon, but you vampires aren’t really known for taking part in political maneuvering. And the Parliament has been the epitome of negligence for hundreds of years and no one complained. Why would they now? ” Hakyeon shrugged slightly, conceding the point.

 

He sighed, teeth worrying his bottom lip. “Just so you know, I would help, but I can’t imagine it would be politically advantageous to have a vampire spy backing your claim.”

 

Taekwoon huffed a laugh. “Probably not.”

 

“But, um, if there’s anything I could do-”

 

“It’s fine, Hakyeon, really.” Hakyeon breathed a poorly concealed sigh of relief and made to lie back down, but before he could, Taekwoon surged up and tangled his hair in his fingers. Hakyeon cursed at the slight pain. 

 

And just as he opened his mouth to ask Taekwoon what the fuck he was doing, Taekwoon caught his lips between his own and swallowed his surprised gasp with a deep satisfaction. He didn’t know how one would describe their relationship really (boyfriend didn’t really seem to cover it), but he was just happy it was upgraded to include kisses. Because Hakyeon was so  _ good  _ at them, all soft lips and soft sounds and sharp teeth, dark eyes getting darker by the second in a way that would scare off a lesser Fae. Taekwoon ran his tongue over the edge of Hakyeon’s fang and the vampire shuddered slightly beneath his hands.

 

“Wait, Taek-” Hakyeon pushed away, an unreadable expression in his eyes.

 

Taekwoon hesitated. “Do you not want to-?”

 

“No,” Hakyeon quickly said. “That’s not it. I do want to, I just- I just learned that I have your magic in my blood. And I’m realizing that this feeling I’ve had my whole life, the itch in the back of my head that leads me to you is because of that, and I’m wondering how much of what I feel for you is because your magic runs in my veins.” The words rushed out without a breath in between. Hakyeon looked about as miserable as Taekwoon had ever seen him. As if the vampire had dropped his wrought iron and barbed wire wall he hid his expression behind, and Taekwoon was seeing his bare emotion.

 

It was a vulnerability Hakyeon rarely allowed anyone. The realization that his magic was causing Hakyeon emotional pain dug itself deep into Taekwoon’s chest.

 

“None of it,” Taekwoon managed shakily. “None of what you feel is because of the magic. It’s not mine anymore. It’s entirely yours. I couldn’t claim it now even if I wanted to.”

 

Hakyeon’s eyes widened. “It’s not yours anymore?”

 

“No. It recognizes you as its master. It would not answer to me.”

 

“So,” Hakyeon began, a slow smile spreading across his lips. “I can kiss you without feeling like it’s magic making me do it?”

 

Taekwoon frowned. “I would certainly hope so,” he said, before the rest of his (frankly unimportant) sentence was cut off by Hakyeon’s lips against his.

 

_ Come out,  _ Taekwoon called, pressing deeper into the kiss.  _ I know you’re there.  _ He extended his senses past where he and Hakyeon met, slipping through a gap in Hakyeon’s defenses he was sure only existed around himself and flitted through the vampire’s mind like a ghost. And when he found it, the tiniest tendril of blue, he latched onto it and tugged sharply. Hakyeon bit into his lip in surprise, iron flooding his mouth.

 

“What are you  _ doing,”  _ he hissed, lips red from the kiss and the blood.

 

“I’m proving a point,” Taekwoon muttered, before gripping Hakyeon by the hair harder and dragging his lips down to meet his for a second time, hot and wet and altogether too much for him to think about, especially when he was also trying to encourage Hakyeon’s magic to emerge at the same time. But he did his best, and this time when he brushed against the magic buried deep, Hakyeon only flinched and sighed into his mouth

 

“Come on, Hakyeon,” he murmured over the vampire’s lips. “You can feel it now, can’t you? Ask it to come. It belongs to you.” Hakyeon gasped against his mouth, fangs dragging by Taekwoon’s teeth. And when he opened his eyes to catch his breath, Hakyeon’s eyes shimmered blue.

 

It was ethereal. The combination of blood on his fangs and magic in his eyes would have sent Taekwoon to his knees if he weren’t already on the ground.

 

And when Hakyeon turned around and saw the room through his new eyes, the fish froze motionless in its bowl.

  
  


~~~

 

 

Wonsik had run off as soon as the meeting finished, but not so fast as to forget to toss Jaehwan a dirty glance as he left. And although Sanghyuk couldn’t fault the man in being pissed that his boyfriend was kidnapped by a cannibalistic vampire, he still felt for Jaehwan in the most confusing of ways. Confusing because, yeah, Jaehwan had  _ technically  _ betrayed them, but he had done so for the best of reasons and Sanghyuk had spent much too long  _ technically  _ betraying Hakyeon as well in their little game of secrets for technicalities to matter to him anymore.

 

And really, looking at Gahyeon’s expression, Sanghyuk had no doubt that Five would not be alive much longer for this betrayal to have any significance 100 years from now. Immortality made such things seem inconsequential. To Sanghyuk, most things were inconsequential.

 

Taekwoon and Hakyeon left together a while later, heads together and voices low. To practice the freezing spell, Sanghyuk assumed, although he suspected it would lead to a good deal more than spell practice. In an ideal world, he would’ve muttered a joke about getting the right fingering to Jaehwan, and Jaehwan would’ve snickered and offered to give him a private lesson with a sharp grin. Sanghyuk glanced at Jaehwan, who was tapping aimlessly through his phone and looking anywhere but him. This was not an ideal world.

 

A cough interrupted his musings. Gahyeon, of course.

 

“Well,” she said, nails drumming a beat over the table. “I must say, this is the most fun I’ve had since the seventies.”

 

Sanghyuk gave a tight-lipped smile. “So glad you’re enjoying this. We’d love a five star rating.”

 

Gahyeon cocked her head, dark eyes boring into Sanghyuk’s. “Tread lightly, Han Sanghyuk. I do not have infinite patience.”

 

And oh, Sanghyuk barely suppressed the shudder that ran through him at the way she said his name. Out of the corner of his eye, Jaehwan’s fingers had frozen over the screen of his phone, and although his eyes stayed glued to it, every muscle in his body was tense.

 

In the silence, Gahyeon suddenly cracked a grin. “I’ll be going then,” she said, and Sanghyuk, for all his training in espionage, couldn’t for the life of him tell if the cheer was affected or genuine. “You have my number. Text me when it’s time.” She fluttered her fingers in a small wave. “Best of luck,” she said, looking past Sanghyuk.

 

Sanghyuk managed a nod. And only after Gahyeon had closed the door with a click did he realize he was now alone in a room with the person he had been avoiding all day. Jaehwan set down his phone with a quiet sigh.

 

Sanghyuk forced himself to meet Jaehwan’s eyes, although it took infinite effort. He couldn’t bring himself to speak first.

 

Jaehwan wet his lips, shrugging his shoulders as if uncomfortable in his own skin. (Sanghyuk had never met someone more at ease that Jaehwan, and it was strikingly odd to see the fairy so off balance.) “Sanghyuk, I-” His hands twitched slightly. “I don’t know what to say, actually,” he breathed. “I had a whole speech planned out, but I’m realizing that I can’t remember any of it.”

 

“What a shame,” Sanghyuk said, doing the best he could to keep all traces of emotion from his voice. “Was it a good speech?”

 

A small smile flitted over Jaehwan’s face. “I wouldn’t know. I was hoping you’d tell me.”

 

“You’d have to remember it for that.” Sanghyuk tugged absentmindedly at a loose string on his shirt. “How did it begin?”

 

“It began with an apology,” Jaehwan said slowly. “And it ended with a kiss.”

 

Sanghyuk frowned. “That’s very presumptive of you, isn’t it?”

 

Eyes wide in defense, Jaehwan tripped over his words in his rush to speak. “No! It was just going to be a goodbye kiss, or something, I don’t know. I just wanted some closure-”

 

“You know, I’m not enjoying this speech very much. I still haven’t heard my apology-”

 

“I’m sorry,” Jaehwan gasped brokenly, hands splayed across the table in desperation. “Sanghyuk, I’m so sorry, and I’m not asking for your acceptance or your forgiveness or anything, but I want you to know. You need to know that I did everything for you. For Hongbin and Taekwoon and Hakyeon and sure, Wonsik too, but above all, for you, because everything I do comes back to that. I’ve never found someone like you in my one hundred and fourteen fucking years of life, and I would never let myself give this up without a fight, but I will if you ask me to. Truthfully.” His voice fell into silence. Sanghyuk tried to ignore the wetness in the fairy’s eyes but it was hard when he couldn’t seem to look anywhere else.

 

“Truthfully,” Sanghyuk choked out from a suddenly tight throat.

 

Jaehwan nodded. “Truthfully.”

 

Sanghyuk swallowed. “Well,” he managed. “That wasn’t too bad of a speech, I suppose.” A heartbeat of silence. “It’s nice to hear you offer to be truthful, for a change.”

 

A wavering smile tentatively appeared on Jaehwan’s face. “It won’t happen too often, don’t worry.”

 

And Sanghyuk really had been trying his best, doing what Hakyeon would’ve done and be a hardass about it, but in the end Sanghyuk just wasn’t Hakyeon. And he found that he didn’t really care where Jaehwan’s loyalties lay because he was confident they would always come back to him, that  _ Jaehwan  _ would always come back to him, with secrets on his lips and sparks falling from his fingers, and that was all Sanghyuk wanted. Jaehwan didn’t need to ask for his forgiveness; he already had it. But-

 

“I need another promise,” Sanghyuk said. Everything seemed louder than normal. Echoed more than it should have in a carpeted room.

 

Jaehwan, eyes wide, nodded quickly. “Anything.”

 

“I need you to talk to me. I need you to trust that I do care for you and will do everything in my power to keep you safe and near me.” Jaehwan opened his mouth, lips already forming the word  _ yes, of course,  _ but Sanghyuk wasn’t done. 

 

(He wasn’t done because for seventeen years, seventeen long, blood soaked years, he’d had three constants in his life- Hakyeon, war, and Jaehwan, and it was the last of those that had provided the most support. Jaehwan, around whom he orbited like a stricken planet. Jaehwan, who showed him the stars.)

 

He licked his dry lips. “To be honest, Jaehwan, as that seems to be the theme of the day, I don’t care about what happens to Six, or Five, or even Wonsik for that matter. I wouldn’t wish harm on him, but I don’t know him. I know you. I’ve known you for seventeen years. And I hate that it took me this long to realize what I felt for you, but these past few days have taken those buried feelings and slapped me in the fucking face with them.”

 

Jaehwan blinked a few times, lips still cracked open. Sanghyuk continued, because he thought that if he didn’t keep going now he might never get the words out.

 

“The idea that you might have actually abandoned us, abandoned me- I couldn’t bear it, Jaehwan. I thought this thing we had between us was casual but no, surprise!” A bitter laugh ripped from his dry throat. “I guess it’s fucking Christmas.” Jaehwan raised an eyebrow at the sudden emotion cracking in Sanghyuk’s voice.

 

Sanghyuk coughed. “But that’s beside the point. My point being, I want you to give me your trust, because I have given mine to you and if you cannot do this I need to know now before I’m in too deep.”

 

He tossed his words into the space between them and left them there. Everything was in Jaehwan’s court, like it so often was. And there were a few heartbeats of silence that Sanghyuk counted using Jaehwan’s, because his no longer beat, and those few seconds felt like a peice of eternity.

 

“Of course.” Jaehwan’s voice was soft. “Sanghyuk. I- you have my trust. And you have everything else that’s within my ability to give. Because I’m already in too deep.” He met Sanghyuk’s eyes with a watery green gaze. “I have been for seventeen years.”

 

Sanghyuk stilled.

 

“You’re joking.”

 

“I’m not?”

 

“I don’t believe you.”

 

Jaehwan frowned. “Why not?”

 

“Because- because you’ve never said anything! For seventeen  _ entire _ years, Jaehwan?”

 

It must actually be fucking Christmas. (Sanghyuk hadn’t been turned that long ago- the memory of his heartbeat still lingered, and that ghost was going absolutely  _ feral. _ ) 

 

The fairy winced. “I didn’t want to scare you off, you seemed so hesitant to commit to things.”

 

“Fuck you, that’s a horrible reason.”

 

“Ah.” Jaehwan chewed his lower lip. “I see where you’re coming from.”

 

Sanghyuk’s breaths came a little fast. (Anything faster than  _ not at all  _ was out of the ordinary, but he wasn’t worried about technicalities.)

 

“Jaehwan- after this is over, let’s go somewhere.” He didn’t know where the words came from. He didn’t remember consciously thinking them beforehand, but the second they were out of his mouth he knew they were what he wanted. “Anywhere that’s not here. It doesn’t have to be for long. I want to see the world. I want to see it with you.”

 

The room smelled like fresh mint and Jaehwan’s eyes were brighter than they’d been in a long time. He nodded. “You weren’t turned too long ago. It’s only reasonable. But,” he said, lips twitching, “That’s a lot of time alone with me. You might have to spill some secrets.”

 

Sanghyuk laughed quietly. “I have kept fewer things from you than you think.”

 

“You have to tell me everything,” Jaehwan insisted. He scooted his chair forward and rested his chin on his hands. It made him look young. “Starting now. What’s the one thing you’ve always wanted to see?”

 

Sanghyuk thought for a second. And then smiled. He glanced at the Fae before him, radiating with a palpable energy that Sanghyuk imagined he could feel brushing against his cheek.

 

“I want to see the stars.” 

  
  


~~~

 

 

_ The stars, _ Jaehwan thought.  _ The stars are manageable. _

 

And if they didn’t fall out of the fucking sky for the beautiful vampire he had fallen in love with seventeen years ago, he would rip them from the fabric of the universe himself.

  
  


~~~

 

 

Wonsik’s mind was in a state of controlled chaos, he would say. (It would be hard to say how  _ controlled  _ this chaos seemed to others from the outside, but let it be said, everything was definitely under control. No imminent mental breakdowns here, thank you very much.)

 

But in all actuality, Wonsik felt like his brain was zip tied to the roof of a train, hurtling down the tracks at breakneck speed, dangerously close to tipping off the rails, with only the name Hongbin grounding him. It was a lot. And it was unexpected.

 

Up until a few fateful weeks ago, Wonsik had gone through life caring for his mother, his cat, and occasionally himself. Now his mother had removed herself from his life, his cat had run away months ago, and somehow a fairy with a mind as sharp as Wonsik’s fangs (also a new development) had embedded himself into Wonsik’s life.

 

And just as quickly as he had arrived, he disappeared. Ripped away in a burst of shadow and smoke and a deal made under the terrible influence of love. Jaehwan hadn’t been incorrect; Hongbin’s capture had been encouraged by his betrayal but sealed by Wonsik’s incompetence, and the reality of the situation burned.

 

The burning in his chest made him think of Hongbin’s eyes, so he tried to calm down. Hongbin had taken his life and turned it upside down and inside out in a shower of lavender sparks and Wonsik was still dealing with the side effects.

 

New York was as vibrant as ever. Oblivious humans rushed down the street, smiling and laughing and pointing. Street lights glared into Wonsik’s sensitive eyes. Somewhere a child screamed, whether in joy or fear or surprise Wonsik didn’t know. It didn’t matter, in the end; the sound was piercing either way. Slowly, Wonsik came aware of the cacophony of sounds roaring in his ears, the car horns and tires screeching and wind shrieking through the gaps in the buildings. The taste of tar and cement coating his mouth and his throat. 

 

It was all just a bit much. He hurried to his apartment and turned on the kitchen tap, leaving the lights off and letting the white noise of the water drown out the city. And, in the newly manufactured silence, Wonsik thought. (Not about how the apartment reminded him of Hongbin, because that was painful, but about important things.)

 

He wasn’t going on the hostage mission. It was decided, and, frankly, he agreed. He couldn’t do anything Hakyeon or Sanghyuk couldn’t, besides provide another liability for them to protect. And if Wonsik had any pride, he’d be insulted, but every ounce of his emotional awareness was going towards Not Running Into Central Park To Shout Hongbin’s Name. An honorable task, to be sure.

 

He hoped beyond hope that Hongbin wasn’t being horrifically tortured. That his lack of magic wasn’t slowly killing him like he thought it might. That he knew they were coming for him.

 

Wonsik frowned at the apartment. The state of current disarray was pitiful. Hongbin would- Hongbin hated mess. 

 

So he wandered around the kitchen, sweeping a few dishes into the sink and straightening the two chairs. And there, on the table, was an idea.

 

Well, it was a gun, but the gun represented an idea. Metaphorically, you see.

 

The gun in question was a CZ 75B 9mm. It was a sleek handgun, one of the first Wonsik had bought. And it was still spelled by Hongbin.

 

Wonsik sighed as the familiar lavender scented floated to his nose when he picked up the gun. Four bullets left. He’d only shot once at Five back in the park, for fear of hitting Hongbin in the darkness and chaos. And he couldn’t remember how it had gotten back to the apartment, because he didn’t think he’d picked it up himself, but regardless. It was a good gun, made better by Hongbin’s spellwork, and he wouldn’t let it go to waste. Perhaps he would come to the rendezvous. As backup, of a sort.

 

Wonsik deftly deconstructed the gun and put it back together, hands moving automatically through the motions. Couldn’t hurt. 

  
  


~~~

 

 

The legends said that darkness was no place for a fairy. That light called to the Fae, with all its tempting promises of warmth and satisfaction, the radiance of dawn hiding the shadows in which dark things lurked. That, without the light of the sun, a fairy would wither into a pale imitation of their former self, and their magic with them. Odd, that they should worship the moon, but the Fae of old weren’t necessarily known for decisions based on logic. 

 

And while Hongbin couldn’t speak for the deterioration of magic, considering his was currently… unavailable, he could accurately say that his current predicament was less than ideal. The oppressive darkness weighed on his shoulders and blinded his eyes. He suspected that Five could see perfectly, and was keeping him in darkness purely for the creep factor. The Vampire Aesthetic TM , if you will.

 

He couldn’t really say if he’d been removed or not from Five’s Central Park lair. After the hell that was losing his magic, it was hard to keep the events of that night straight. He wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to differentiate the lightning pace of vampire speed from the spinning in his head and roaring in his ears, and he hadn’t been given the privilege of seeing his surroundings since.

 

How had Five managed to capture him so easily, he didn’t know. He didn’t know if the Central Park scheme had been a trap from the very beginning, or if he and Wonsik had just been brutally unprepared, but the result was the same either way. (He had a suspicion, though. A combination of observations and happenstances. The way Jaehwan had been so insistent on knowing their plans, how twitchy he’d been after the St. Patrick’s raid, how his magic felt just a little different. Darker. It would be impossible to know someone for as long as Hongbin had known Jaehwan and not see the change. But he didn’t know for sure, and science had long taught the merits of evidence-based conclusions. So Hongbin would escape, and then confront Jaehwan. If he was still alive by the end of this.)

 

Hongbin also didn’t know what time it was. All he knew was that the zip ties around his wrists had been digging into his skin for much too long to retain any semblance of human (as if) decency, and that the surface on which he sat, propped against a wall, was rough stone. Not much to go on, if he intended to help his friends in any way.

 

And he did intend to help. Although, taking stock of the situation, helping might be difficult. With his magic gone (and it still struck a sharp pain in his chest to think the words), there wasn’t much he could do. The constant, stifling presence of the vampire in the air weighed heavily on his mind. Five had, as far as Hongbin’s limited senses were concerned, never left the room since he had regained consciousness. Merely stood, at the edge of Hongbin’s thoughts, like a statue.

 

It was a good thing that, out of all of them, Five had captured him. Because Taekwoon and Hakyeon were vital to the survival of the team, and Sanghyuk and Jaehwan would be able to do so much more than he could.

 

If Hongbin reached out with the few abilities left to him, last, hopeful vestiges of magic clinging to his blood, he could feel something deep within Five, something trapped and calling out to him. Something that Five should never have had, should never have stolen, something that  _ didn’t belong to him. _

 

Hongbin wanted it back. His blood ached for it. Five would  _ burn  _ for this. Hongbin would light the match himself.

 

Maybe there was a plan after all. Maybe Hongbin could help. Or maybe Five would find out and kill him for it, drain his blood as well as his magic. But everything had a price, and Hongbin’s immortal life was nothing if it was spent without his very soul.

 

So for the first time in his imprisonment, Hongbin relaxed. He let the darkness sweep over him, consume him from the outside in. He saw nothing and heard nothing and the cold stone beneath him disappeared. And in the new nothingness, he opened his mind and waited.

 

It wouldn’t do to call for his magic too quickly. Five would notice. This would require a certain discretion, something Hongbin prided himself on. So, as carefully as possible, Hongbin made the mental equivalent of a whisper. The lightest nudge, fingertips brushing against the edge of the mass he could feel rustling uncertainly in Five’s chest. It didn’t belong there. It didn’t belong anywhere but within Hongbin, and the abrupt sense of  _ wrongness  _ almost overpowered him right there.

 

And more than that was the deep sadness and memory of pain that washed over him in a cresting wave, the crushing force of something you hadn’t really realized was such a large part of yourself until it was ripped away like a gauze curtain, leaving you with a hole that- well, to Hongbin, it was a hole that carried a threat of immortality without magic. Immortality without everything that gave Hongbin purpose would be a kind of torture he didn’t think he would survive. He felt emptier than he had in a long time, helpless. A memory flashed unbidden through his mind; Wonsik, at his kitchen table, smiling, declaring he would move on through eternity independent of the woman who had raised him and then dropped him. Wonsik, stronger than he could ever be.

 

But his magic called. And he called back, coaxing and pleading and reaching out with desperate prayers.  _ Return to me, _ he begged.  _ You have been stolen, and I will not let you be kept.  _ It was hard to say whether the magic understood. It was energy, and yet, it had always been something more. It had always been Hongbin’s. That had to count for something.

 

Perhaps it did. Because he felt a few tendrils of energy spark in recognition to Hongbin’s touch, twitch a little further from Five’s steadily weakening hold. Hongbin barely managed to hold back a scoff of derision that would surely attract Five’s attention. For all his words and strength, the vampire had the energy capacity of an infant Fae, magic dripping out like water from a leaky bucket. If he weren’t trying so hard to be subtle, it might’ve been laughably easy to rip the magic back. But Five couldn’t know.

 

So Hongbin quietly convinced threads of his magic back into his blood, eyes rolling back into his head and body melting into the wall in relief as he felt the first sparks coursing through him. The tiny gasp that fell from his lips was smothered at the last second, but the shiver that wracked his body was unavoidable. It bordered on euphoric.

 

He didn’t take it all back, no matter how tempting it would have been. While Five would be unaware of some of the magic missing, he surely have noticed if it had all disappeared. So Hongbin settled back against the wall in the darkness to wait. Whether or not his friends came with Six or with nothing, the Parliamentarian would not live to see the new year. He’d left a gift for Wonsik, sent with the tiny reserves of magic he’d had left after the fight. Wonsik would find it. Until then, Hongbin could make do with half his soul.

 

When the time came, he would burn the rest out of Five himself.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually a little surprised this came out in time... to no one's surprise the next chapter is not yet written. i think there are... two? chapters left? who knows. not the author lmao. As always, you lovely people, thanks for reading :)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back! It's been a while! thanks for waiting :)
> 
> here's an extra long chapter.

 

Taekwoon couldn’t come, and Hakyeon gave the strange mix of emotions in his chest a stern talking to in an effort to quiet them down. On one hand, he was glad Taekwoon wasn’t coming, because that was one less thing to worry about. One less person he had to be watching out of the corner of his eye, one less burden on his shoulders and in his heart. And the possibility of Five getting his claws on Taekwoon’s vast ocean of magic was terrifying, to say the least.

 

On the other, Hakyeon had only ever done magic with the fairy’s invaluable, if unorthodox, help, and he was hesitant to assume he would be able to replicate the results on his own. He could feel the magic sitting heavy in his chest, familiar and yet not. It could be nerves, but Hakyeon liked to think he had enough confidence in his abilities to not be nervous. He was going on 112 years, for god’s sake. Those fucking butterflies could shrivel up and die.

 

Because hey, Hakyeon was nothing if not confident, even if it was typically 80% bravado and caffeine with a top off of luck and a dash of skill, and he wasn’t captain of the Espionage Corps for nothing. (Even if it was mostly disbanded, like many vamp government-funded operations at the moment, but no one really seemed to care about that minor fact.) So even if he had to figure out how the fuck magic worked in the ten minute walk to the Met from this little coffee shop, he’d find a way. Because one, that’s the kind of stubborn person he was, and two, if he didn’t, Sanghyuk would laugh himself to a second death.

 

Sanghyuk, who was really in no mood to laugh anyway because he was about to spend the next few hours walking around the perimeter of the Met with Taekwoon, ensuring Five didn’t make a run for it. And while Hakyeon would jump at the opportunity, Sanghyuk was much less… eager, let’s say, to spend so much time with the quiet Fae. Taekwoon wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, more of an acquired taste really, and Sanghyuk had probably spent all of six minutes alone with him during this whole chaotic adventure. 

 

And with all the recent drama, the conversation was bound to be interesting. Hakyeon’s gossip senses tingled.

 

The cafe he sat in was a small place, obnoxiously cat-themed– lacking any real cats, to Hakyeon’s disappointment, and more importantly, lacking Jaehwan. Who was supposed to be here already. Technically, he was supposed to be here eighteen minutes ago, but Hakyeon had been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt up until the fifteen minute mark. He had things to do and places to be and poorly characterized vampires to kill, and he did _not_ have time for the Fae’s tardiness. He ordered another tea.

 

Birds collected on the wires crisscrossing the clear sky and hung around the benches lining the road; the city had recently passed a bylaw calling for more pigeon spikes, but the motion was ineffective and the birds gathered despite the illegality of their presence. Presumably they hadn’t read the bylaws. Hakyeon didn’t mind– he’d always liked birds anyway.

 

(Hakyeon, in general, liked the sky, and perhaps that wasn’t a common thing to like, but he supposed he enjoyed the symbolism behind it. It looked a little different every day, and yet it was the same sky that had carried the same sun for millennia. And it would continue doing so, at least until the humans burned away the last of the ozone layer and the atmosphere fell to pieces about their ears. But that was a much bigger problem than Hakyeon was prepared to handle. He was a vampire, not a god.)

 

His tea arrived in the hands of a cute girl wearing a white cat ear headband and looking not at all happy to be doing so. Her name tag read _Yoobin,_ decorated with an outline of cat paws. Hakyeon was getting a little overwhelmed with all the cat imagery.

 

As Yoobin set his cup down on the table with a perfunctory smile, Hakyeon swore he saw a shimmer around her fingers. A shimmer he commonly saw floating above Taekwoon’s skin. Frowning, he opened his mouth to ask a question– he didn’t really know what he had been going to say– but the street clamor leaked into the cafe as the door opened and Gahyeon stepped inside, Jaehwan a few feet behind.

 

A plate shattered and Yoobin the suspicious waitress made a very small, very suspicious squeaking sound, not at all in character with the rampant cat theme.

 

Gahyeon froze in her tracks, wincing slightly, and her fingers twitched as if to help the waitress but she didn’t move. Jaehwan carefully stepped around her and sat down with Hakyeon, nodding a hello as an awkward silence descended on the room.

 

Hakyeon was so confused.

 

~~~

 

Yoobin had not been having a good day.

 

It had, actually, been quite a poor one, on the scale of Good Days at the Cat-astrophe Café, and Yoobin was just Not Feeling It.

 

It was bad enough that, by one of nature’s great ironies, she had only been able to get a decent job at a dumb cat cafe. And it wasn’t even one of the supernatural-friendly ones! She had to take extra time out of her day every morning to make sure the glamour over her claws was in place and her normally feline eyes looked reasonably human. She really didn’t need the added drama in her life.

 

So imagine her surprise when she’d been having a fairly chill time serving a vampire his overly sweetened tea and suddenly the stupid meowing doorbell went off and not only did an entire fairy (who smelled like breathmints) walk in, but so did her EX.

 

And honestly, Fae were pretty relaxed most of the time and on a normal day this wouldn’t bother her, but this was obviously some ploy by the universe at large to make her quit her job and work at the stupid pet store instead, and fuck the universe. It wouldn’t win this time. Yoobin would make sure of it.

 

She couldn’t stop herself from dropping the plate, but she almost did, and it’s the thought that counts.

 

“Dami,” came her ex’s voice from the doorway. “How nice to see you again.”

 

It wasn’t at all nice to see her again, Yoobin thought. It was painful. (But deep down, a tiny part of her purred with happiness at hearing Gahyeon’s voice again. It really had been too long.)

 

“I don’t go by that name anymore,” Yoobin said, coldly. “Found yourself a new vampire, I see. What happened to the last one?”

 

Gahyeon winked in that infuriating yet mysterious way of hers. “How funny that you should ask. We’re actually taking care of that quite soon.”

 

The Fae she’d walked in with had gone to sit down with his vampire friend, looking quite at ease even with the tense conversation. His friend looked confused.

 

Yoobin didn’t blame him. She was just as confused. Her claws itched to extend. “What are you doing here, Gahyeon. I’m working.”

 

“What a coincidence! So am I.” Her heels clicked as she took a step closer. And then another. And Yoobin would be damned if she stepped back, so she stood her ground and tried to ignore the embarrassing weight of the fluffy cat ears on her head.

 

“Haha, wow!” The awkward vampire stood, clutching his tea in one hand. “That _is_ a coincidence. You know what’s also a coincidence?” He elbowed his minty friend with a very sharp elbow in a what looked like a very painful manner and the fairy stood up as well.

 

“No, what’s also a coincidence, _Hakyeon,”_ the fae muttered, rubbing his side.

 

“We need to leave!” Hakyeon said. “Like right now, actually! You guys were late, and I have tea, so let’s _go.”_

 

“I wanted some coffee,” the minty fairy muttered again, but he followed the vampire to the door anyway.

 

“Gahyeon,” Hakyeon called. “It’s time.”

 

Which was all very ominous, but Yoobin was a low power Bast and not involved in vamp-Fae politics in the slightest, nor did she intend to ever be, so she ignored the vampire-Fae duo in favor of registering the fact that Wow, Gahyeon’s hair looked Really Good today. And that really wasn’t fair, especially considering that it sounded as if she was about to commit some kind of federal crime or political coup.

 

Gahyeon jerked her chin at Hakyeon, who took it as a sign to get the hell out. He slipped out the door with his fairy friend, and Yoobin missed their presence if only to avoid being alone with Gahyeon.

 

“Been a while, Dami.”

 

“I _said,_ I don’t go by that anymore.” Dami was a figure of the past. Dami was at once her greatest joy and her greatest regret. Dami was a part of her Yoobin tried to forget existed, because she could never kill the person she had been completely, no matter how hard she tried.

 

Gahyeon hummed. “I missed you, you know. I wish you’d stayed.”

 

Yoobin was glad she hadn’t. It was toxic, Gahyeon’s old life. (Parts of it had been beautiful, in the way a dying human takes on an ethereal aura). “I told you. I wasn’t going to stay with that vampire and watch as you two rampaged across the country. That wasn’t me. It still isn’t. And,” Yoobin looked a little closer. Gahyeon looked– better. She looked stronger, healthier, more content. “I’m wondering if it’s even still you.”

 

“Oh, come on,” Gahyeon protested. “We had fun.” Yoobin shook her head. “Just a little bit? No? Not at all?”

 

And Yoobin couldn’t lie, so instead she said, “We have a no loitering policy here, so please order something or leave.”

 

Gahyeon sighed. “This’ll all be over soon.” She glanced out the window where the top of the Met could be seen through the gap between the buildings. “I’ll come find you after. I promise.”

 

“How much are those worth, these days?” Yoobin asked bitterly. And maybe that was cruel, but even times long past carried their sting and Yoobin had a good memory.

 

Gahyeon winced. “Truly, this time. We are not yet done with each other.”

 

The Fae rapped on the door with his knuckles and Gahyeon spun on one dagger-sharp heel. “I’ll be seeing you,” she said. And then, hand on the door-handle, she looked over her shoulder with a small smile. “The cat ears are cute.”

 

Yoobin hissed and yanked them off her head but Gahyeon was already disappearing into the rush of the city.

 

What the FUCK was the universe on about.

 

~~~

 

 

Taekwoon, actually, hated birds, although he was considering amending that statement because he couldn’t bear to shoot down the excitement in Hakyeon’s eyes when the vampire went off about the bird he’d seen that day. The fuck kind of birds did New York have anyway, besides lazy pigeons or the same pigeon but of the slightly larger variety.

 

(Honestly, though, Taekwoon was a fairy. He literally flew. In the air. Birds were flying hazards. Beaks were sharp. Taekwoon knew from experience. Hakyeon would never know about this.)

 

Even without the noise of the birds, the street was louder than Taekwoon would’ve liked. He preferred quiet places. Like libraries. And his office. And Han Sanghyuk, the opposite of quiet, was not helping.

 

“Do you know Hakyeon likes birds?” the vampire said, already so far over the word limit Taekwoon had mentally given him he was ready to sew Sanghuk’s lips shut. “He’s always talking about new ones he sees on his hunts, or the ones that hang out in that weird tree outside his apartment.” Sanghyuk deftly spun around a light pole without missing a beat.

 

“You know, I think that tree is actually cursed. Hakyeon pissed off a nature witch once and she promised to do _something_ to him, like-” Sanghyuk managed to catch Taekwoon’s eye and wiggled his brows. “ _Something,_ you know?”

 

Taekwoon blinked to affirm that yes, he did know.

 

“See, that tree was there before Hakyeon moved in, but it’s still there, and it’s been, like, ninety years.”

 

It had not been ninety years.

 

“And the weirdest things fall out of it? Like, one time, this squirrel came shooting down the trunk but I swear that thing had wings, and another time, there was this pigeon, but it kept appearing and disappearing into thin air like it was teleporting or something.” Sanghyuk looked to see if any of this was having an effect on Taekwoon.

 

Taekwoon kept walking. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was on 82nd and 5th, and if he could get there in the next eight minutes, his head might have a chance of not exploding.

 

“So, yeah,” Sanghyuk concluded, looking suddenly very young and not at all like a deadly vampire assassin. “Did you know Hakyeon likes birds?”

 

Sanghyuk, Taekwoon realized, couldn’t have been over 22 when he was turned. And people say turned but they mean killed, and Sanghyuk had been killed at 22 or maybe even younger than that. And now he was immortal, endless, timeless, and would remain 22 or maybe even younger for the rest of his very long life. Did Sanghyuk resent that?

 

Time was different for Fae; they lived knowing they would see the death of eras and the rise of new ones, knowing they would outlive those they bumped into on the streets, knowing there would be a point at which they looked in the mirror and found they had not changed in 300 years. Sanghyuk had his life ripped from his neck and eternity shoved down his throat. 

 

“Yes,” Taekwoon said softly. “I know he likes birds.”

 

They continue in relative silence, Sanghyuk with his hands swinging at his sides and Taekwoon’s shoved in his pockets, protected from any accidental contact with passersby. They crossed 73rd. 

 

“How is Jaehwan?” Sanghyuk asked quietly, hesitantly.

 

Taekwoon hummed. “I thought you guys made up.”

 

“We did. Yes. But, sometimes there are things people tell their boyf- things he tells me, and there are things he tells you, and I was wondering whether he had said anything to you.” His voice trailed off, lost in the noise of the city. 

 

“About what?”

 

Sanghyuk shrugged, a quick jerk of his shoulders. He wore what he had called _museum outfit one,_ implying not only the existence of an outfit one should wear to a museum, but his owning more than one such outfits. It seemed to consist of a neutral toned sweater with black jeans and a pair of fake, round-rimmed glasses. Taekwoon wasn’t sure they even had lenses in them.

 

“Anything. He acts like he’s ok with everything, ok with _Six,_ but I don’t think he is. The way he stands around her, I can feel his tension.”

 

Taekwoon narrowed his eyes. “You’re more observant than you let on.”

 

Sanghyuk flashed a sharp grin. “I didn’t get where I am for nothing, you know. Hakyeon’s standards were high, and I blew them out of the water.”

 

“Not because of your humility,” Taekwoon muttered.

 

The vampire coughed slightly, hopping over a chipped curb. “Well, no, but I’ll have you know I’m the youngest commanding officer in vamp history– Hey, do you want a hot dog?”

 

Taekwoon did not want a hot dog. But he looked at Sanghyuk’s face and said yes anyway. Sanghyuk ordered two hot dogs from the cart. The man squinted suspiciously at the rumpled bills handed to him, but took the money regardless.

 

“Jaehwan spooks easy,” Taekwoon said, awkwardly holding the hot dog he did not want to eat. “He was always like that. You’d surprise him once and he’d scream like a banshee, and then he’d be peeking around corners for the next week like he expected you to be behind each one.”

 

“So he’s paranoid,” Sanghyuk suggested. He seemed to be enjoying his hot dog very much. It had onions, which didn’t seem all that great to Taekwoon.

 

“No,” Taekwoon said. “Paranoia is often without reason. Jaehwan always has a reason.”

 

Jaehwan was the canary in the mineshaft. He was the one who knew when things were coming, always the first to be on his guard and sound the alarm. (But the canary dies. And Taekwoon would sacrifice his immortal life before Jaehwan died for him or for anything.)

 

“He’s been off since his run-in with Five,” Sanghyuk said slowly. “And it’s not only because of the spying thing.” Puzzle pieces snapped into place, things Sanghyuk had been dancing around for the past few days. “He’s terrified of Five and uncomfortable around Gahyeon, I can tell. And the other day, in the office-”

 

“He kept leaking magic,” Taekwoon cut in.

 

Sanghyuk frowned. “What?” he asked around a mouthful of hot dog. Taekwoon waited for a group of chinese tourists to walk past before answering.

 

“Leaking magic. It’s what we call someone who always has their magic on tap. It’s easier to access, like a bookmark of sorts, but it’s also less effective because you lose bits with time.”

 

“Why would he waste energy like that? He didn’t need it for anything, not when all of us outnumbered Gahyeon five to one, unless…” Sanghyuk’s hot dog froze halfway to his mouth.

 

“Unless he was worried about a more personal attack. Unless he was worried about Gahyeon’s skills as a Parliamentarian.” Sanghyuk remembered the way Jaehwan’s eyes flashed green on and off like a broken street light, like he was making sure it worked. “Unless his magic had been stolen before and he was worried it would be stolen again.”

 

“Shit,” Taekwoon breathed. He had known Jaehwan hated Five, understandably, and distrusted Gahyeon, also a reasonable thing to do, but he had never thought Five had actually stripped Jaehwan of his magic. It couldn’t have been for long, because the Fae had returned with his magic intact, but nevertheless. The length of time was of no consequence to the aftereffects.

 

“Jaehwan’s scared he’s going to lose his magic again,” Sanghyuk realized. “It’s been fear, this whole time. He’s been fucking terrified out of his mind.” The fairy had almost thrown himself out the nearest window at Gahyeon’s reveal. “And we’ve sent him right back to the one who did it to him.”

 

The clamor of the street suddenly seemed too loud. Taekwoon’s hot dog hung limply in his hand. A taxi screamed past, showing the typical disregard for human life. 

 

Jaehwan hadn’t refused to go. In fact, he hadn’t voiced any complaints at all; he had actually _volunteered_ to be part of the roof squad, as Hakyeon called it, so his residual fear didn’t seem to be having much of a visible effect. 

 

A silence fell over the pair, interrupted by a siren splitting the air. Taekwoon wondered if it was chasing the maybe murderous but definitely speeding taxi.

 

“Taekwoon,” Sanghyuk started. “Has Jaehwan ever showed a very high propensity towards revenge, maybe? Or, you know, other emotions of that sort?”

 

Taekwoon hesitated. Jaehwan was hard to read. Probably the hardest out of the three of them. Hongbin, at least, was consistent. You could always tell his level of irritation by the burning in his eyes or the sharpness of his tongue, but Jaehwan was a different matter. Jaehwan, with his easy smile and glinting eyes. He would smile while he burned your house down and you’d never know it was him.

 

“Jaehwan– he’s has always been something of an enigma. When we were younger, he’d run wild on Halloween with his glamour down and wings out, fishing for compliments on his amazing costume that wasn’t a costume at all. He’d track down people who had offended them and ask for an apology, and somehow, he always got one. He just– knew things, about everyone. Everyone wanted to talk to him, wanted Jaehwan to know them, but I don’t think any of them ever knew _Jaehwan.”_

 

Even Taekwoon wouldn’t say with certainty that he knew the Fae’s deepest secrets. Obviously,  Jaehwan hadn’t felt comfortable sharing this one. And the matter of the betrayal still cut, even if Taekwoon had forgiven him for it. He suspected Sanghyuk had, too, but he wondered whether Sanghyuk would’ve cared either way, as long as Jaehwan stayed by his side.

 

Loyalty was a fickle thing.

 

“Jaehwan gives away more than he realizes,” Sanghyuk said. “I’ve known something was off since St. Patrick’s, but we’ve been so busy I just never thought to ask…”

 

“Were you mad?” Taekwoon asked. “When you realized he’d betrayed us. Betrayed you.”

 

Sanghyuk’s face shuttered closed and Taekwoon felt the delicacy of the line he walked. “Of course,” the vampire said. “I was shocked. I felt like the world had been flipped upside-down. It was the worst feeling in my life.”

 

He hadn’t said _one of the worst,_ Taekwoon realized. He’d said _the worst._ And as a vampire, as someone who had been killed and made into something right out of human nightmares, Taekwoon was a little confused why Sanghyuk’s turning hadn’t made the list.

 

“Even worse than your turning?” he ventured, slowly, wary of Sanghyuk closing off even more. This was probably the most words he’d ever exchanged with the vampire. 

 

Sanghyuk blinked. “What do you know of my turning.” It wasn’t a question, it was a warning to back off, but Taekwoon chose to ignore the subtext.

 

“Nothing. As far as I know, none of us know anything.” (That was not entirely true, Taekwoon later found. Jaehwan knew much more people thought.)

 

“That’s how I want it to be.” Sanghyuk’s voice was flat and cold, freezing in the late autumn air. Taekwoon observed a flock of pigeons attack a forgotten sandwich like vultures.

 

“I just think it’d be interesting–”

 

“It would not be interesting, but if I tell you, will you stop looking at me like I’m a pity case?” The words were sharp and biting, and Taekwoon hadn’t realized Sanghyuk had noticed the pity in his eyes. He should’ve known better.

 

Sanghyuk took a deep breath and sat down on one of the park benches. They’d reached the border of Central Park one while ago, and the shape of the Metropolitan Museum loomed over the street. Taekwoon slid onto the bench too, placing the uneaten hot dog next to him after a moment of consideration.

 

There was a moment of silence as Sanghyuk gathered his thoughts. A squirrel ran off with the hot dog. And then Sanghyuk began.

 

“I was quiet as a child. I stayed home when other people went outside, because the Internet wasn’t a thing in the 70’s. I stayed inside and I read books. I loved to read. And I still do, when I have the time. It’s harder now, of course. But, you know, that’s the way it goes.”

 

The sentences came out slowly, a bit rusted around the edges. Taekwoon didn’t say anything.

 

“I read all kinds of books, but mainly fiction. I would sit for hours with a stack of books in front of me and work my way through them. I loved fiction and fantasy, because why read about the real world when you already live it? Books were an escape into another world where happy endings existed and men flew with wings of gold and wax and kisses brought people back to life. Magic existed there, not in my home or school or neighborhood.”

 

Sanghyuk looked up. “And, before you ask, no, I didn’t have a terrible life. I had normal parents, a normal school. No traumatic life experiences. My life was completely, one hundred percent, average.”

 

The squirrel who had stolen Taekwoon’s hot dog sat on the sidewalk and slowly tore it to pieces.

 

“So imagine my surprise when I found out that vampires existed.”

 

Taekwoon started. “You _found out_ that vampires existed?”

 

“I did.”

 

 _“How?”_ Vampires were notoriously secretive, known for killing those who revealed themselves to humans. And for a 22 year-old to just _find out_ was– unprecedented.

 

Sanghyuk cocked his head, as if considering whether or not he wanted to reveal the inner workings of his genius. He sighed. “You can ask Jaehwan for the details later, but–”

 

“You told _Jaehwan?”_

 

“That’s what I said, pay attention. Basically, there was this vampire who was pretending to be a normal student at my college? And she was my lab partner, and I know this all sounds very exciting but really, she must’ve been the most _boring_ vampire to ever exist.” Sanghyuk rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I don’t even know which idiot turned her, because the only thing she had going for her was her face. But anyway, she was my lab partner and she was pretty so we had like, a thing, and oh! She was also crazy smart. She had this whole system where she stayed at a college long enough to get a fancy degree while she ate these weird tide pod-esque packets that had blood inside.”

 

Taekwoon was in a vegetative state trying to take in all of the new information. Han Sanghyuk, vampire assassin and wannabe millennial, was turned by a woman who college-hopped while consuming bloody tide pods.

 

“Regardless, one day she slipped up and I figured out that her weird vitamins were actually blood, and I bothered her until she agreed to turn me.” He shrugged, spreading his hands. “It’s that simple.”

 

Taekwoon blinked. “You– bothered her. Until she agreed to turn you.”

 

“Well,” Sanghyuk coughed. “Bothered is a nice term for it. I sort of threatened to expose her if she didn’t turn me–” he saw Taekwoon’s eyes widen and hurried to finish his sentence. “But she’s fine! She’s really fine, I promise! I text her every now and then, she’s at Oxford right now finishing her masters of anthropology.”

 

“What the fuck, Sanghyuk.”

 

“You wanted to know! I didn’t like all the heavy sighs and puppy dog eyes in my direction. Now you can feel better knowing I wasn’t brutally murdered as a college student.”

 

“No! You just _asked_ to be _gently murdered as a college student!”_

 

Sanghyuk shook his head. “I can’t win.”

 

Taekwoon felt the oncoming headache. He was surrounded by idiots. Intelligent ones, sure, but he was confident Sanghyuk and Jaehwan collectively shared three brain cells. (Hongbin had maybe seven, with a three point deduction because he was incapable of making instant coffee, and Hakyeon could have as many as he wanted.)

 

“But why, Sanghyuk?”

 

Sanghyuk frowned. “What do you mean, why? Isn’t it obvious?”

 

“Pardon me for not finding an obvious reason why one would want to become an undead, bloodsucking creature that eats people.”

 

It was getting closer to the 3 PM, when Hakyeon and Jaehwan would enter the Met, but Taekwoon and Sanghyuk were almost in position already. They wouldn’t have to go far. Good thing, because Taekwoon was not moving until Sanghyuk reached his conclusion.

 

“When you put it that way,” Sanghyuk muttered. “But come on, I’d had a stupid life up until that moment. I was getting an English degree, for god’s sake. Where was that going to get me? I was probably going to live my whole life in one corner of the world, with my English degree, and maybe a cat because at the time I couldn’t imagine getting anyone to love me, why would I turn the offer down?”

 

Taekwoon didn’t understand and Sanghyuk could obviously tell. From what, Taekwoon didn’t know, but the vampire kept talking, tone more serious.

 

“Taekwoon, I don’t know what kind of person you think I am, but I am not a very good one. I never did my homework, I was a horrible lab partner, and I would take eternal damnation in a second if it meant eternal life. Imagine your greatest fantasy came to life in front of your eyes. Who would you be to let it walk away?”

 

It was hard to wrap his head around. Sanghyuk, or anyone, for that matter, accepting vampirism. _Asking_ for vampirism. But, in a way, it fit. It fit with Sanghyuk’s lifestyle, how he flitted from one thing to the next in a constant search for something. For what, Taekwoon didn’t know.

 

“Do you ever regret it?” he asked.

 

Sanghyuk grinned, and the barest hint of fangs showed over his lips. “Never. Not for a second.”

 

“Not even when Jaehwan broke up with you?” Taekwoon pressed.

 

“Jaehwan never broke up with me,” Sanghyuk protested, sharp smile shifting into something younger, more playful. “We just had a disagreement. I knew he would be back.”

 

It was almost chilling to hear the absolute confidence in the vampire’s voice. Did Jaehwan know the level of dedication Sanghyuk had for him? Taekwoon somehow knew that he did.

 

Taekwoon glanced towards the museum. Tourists streamed in and out of the large doors and down the steps, oblivious of the events about to take place. “I hope he’ll be ok,” he said, quietly. “I don’t know how deep his trauma goes. Just being around Five might throw him off. I don’t think he’d put himself in a position that would put the mission in jeopardy, but-”

 

He might. He might, for one reason, and that reason seemed apparent to Sanghyuk, too.

 

“He would if he thought he could get revenge,” Sanghyuk realized. His watch ticked closer to 3. “Jaehwan volunteered to be part of the hostage exchange, didn’t he?”

 

Taekwoon nodded.

 

Sanghyuk laughed sharply. The city ate up the sound in seconds. “Does Five know what he’s walking into?” he asked, eyes brighter than they had any right to be when discussing matters of murder and espionage. “He is about to be trapped on the roof with the three people who most hate him on the earth, and he thinks this is a fight he’s going to win?”

 

The alarm on Sanghyuk’s phone went off. 3 PM. Taekwoon glanced towards the museum, as if he expected it to look different. Hakyeon and Jaehwan should be walking in now, but the figures ascending the stairs were much too small to make out any details. 

 

And then he felt a sharp elbow in his ribs.

 

“Ouch, Sanghyuk, watch your limbs,” he hissed.

 

The elbow did not disappear. “Taekwoon,” the vampire muttered. “We gotta go.”

 

“I know we got a bit distracted, but we’re supposed to keep watch, you know.” Taekwoon kept his eyes glued to the museum.

 

“Taekwoon! Look at me!”

 

Taekwoon groaned, but looked over at Sanghyuk anyway. “What do you want.”

 

Sanghyuk’s eyes were narrowed to slits. “Look down the street,” he said, jerking his chin to the side.

 

Taekwoon looked. The group of chinese tourists was hanging around the hot dog cart en mass, talking loudly. “I don’t see anything.”

 

“Then _look closer.”_ Sanghyuk’s lips thinned into a line of irritation.

 

Taekwoon rolled his eyes but lowered a gossamer-thin film of magic slip over his eyes, and the street before him sprung into the equivalent of 1080p from 760p. The leader of the tour group waved her flag and directed the group away from the overcrowded hot dog cart, and in the cleared space, Taekwoon noticed what Sanghyuk had somehow seen with his vampirism-enhanced eyes from a block and a half away.

 

The hot dog cart was empty, because the vendor was walking towards them with the casual and too-smooth steps of an immortal vampire, red-and-white striped hat pulled low over his eyes. And as Taekwoon surveyed the block, one of the Halal Guys vendors across the street ducked behind his umbrella and brought his mouth to a phone whose matte black didn’t seem to fit his color scheme.

 

“Well fuck,” Taekwoon said.

 

Sanghyuk snorted. “I hope you’re as good as Hakyeon says you are, because Five’s pulled out all the stops for this one.” He stood up and tossed his hot dog wrapper into a nearby trash can, brushing off his legs. “I’ll cover Halal if you take the hot dog and souvenir carts?”

 

“Wait.” Taekwoon hurried to stand and took a quick count of the surrounding stands. Small food carts and souvenir shops littered the street corners and sidewalks, many of which Taekwoon could tell were already abandoned. “I thought the vamp government was non operational.”

 

“It is. These aren’t government sanctioned soldiers, they’re freelance. So take care, fairy boy, because they don’t pull their punches.” Sanghyuk shook back his sleeves and texted Hakyeon a quick message, and Taekwoon caught a glint of metal strapped to his forearms. 

 

Taekwoon managed one more question, words coming out in a rush as the first spikes of adrenaline hit his blood. “Will Jaehwan be ok? With Five?” 

 

Sanghyuk bounced lightly on his toes and flexed his fingers. “Jaehwan will be fine,” he said, grinning. “Five doesn’t know what he’s brought upon himself. We have other things to worry about.”

 

Taekwoon closed his eyes for a heartbeat, dropping his head back and letting the noise of the city wash over him. His magic answered his call and filled the air with electricity. Sparks flew from the tips of his fingers. And when Taekwoon opened his eyes, he looked every inch the Fae commander.

 

Sanghyuk looked over and smiled. “Good to see you, Commander Jung. What do you say we kick some vamp ass?”

 

It took him a second to answer, mainly because every moment passed slower when he sparked up. If he focused, he could see each of Sanghyuk’s eyelashes (oddly long for someone whose body was dead). The air thrummed with energy. A few humans unconsciously backed away from the scene.

 

“I thought you’d never ask,” Taekwoon said, and a salt breeze swept in from the east.

 

~~~

  

What the fuck did one say to the commanding officer of one’s maybe probably boyfriend?

 

Jaehwan had no idea, so, for the first time in a while, he remained silent. But that seemed like an ok decision, because Hakyeon kept up a steady commentary on everything from the tourists observing the art to the art itself to the artists who had made the art (some of whom Hakyeon knew. Personally.)

 

Gahyeon listened in silence, her mind obviously still in that tiny cat cafe and the cute waitress with the definitely fake cat ears and the probably real cat claws and eyes hiding under that glamour of hers. Bast, Jaehwan suspected. Feline senses, some feline traits, almost immortal. (Could potentially be completely immortal if she’d ever engaged in any kind of blood sharing activity with a certain powerful vampire. Not that Jaehwan was judging.)

 

And anyway, he didn’t have the mental capacity to focus on other creatures right now. This was go time. Show time. D-Day. T minus 0 days, 0 hours, maybe around 8 minutes.

 

And he felt so calm he almost scared himself.

 

For the first time in days, his magic wasn’t boiling against his skin. It sat relaxed in his veins, eagerly awaiting the upcoming battle. (Battle? Would it be a battle? Perhaps. Or maybe Five would go easy. But Jaehwan hoped he wouldn’t.)

 

He had volunteered to be a part of the roof team. For some reason, no one had questioned the frankly very suspicious request, but even if someone had, he would’ve convinced them. In some way or another.

 

Really, the only person who would’ve questioned him would’ve been Hongbin. But that obviously wasn’t a problem in this situation. And Jaehwan had ways of convincing Hongbin, with challenges and promises that actually might not work anymore now that Wonsik was in the picture. He’d have to work on that, Jaehwan thought with a slight frown. The only other person who could have noticed Jaehwan’s ulterior motives was probably Sanghyuk, and Sanghyuk didn’t care whether or not Jaehwan stuck to the plan as long as Five was dead at the end of it. 

 

“Jaehwan,” Hakyeon said, cutting through his inner monologue. “You know that Five is probably going to take your magic up there, right?”

 

“Yeah. I know. I’ve prepared.” And this time, he had. Five wasn’t going to catch him by surprise anymore. He only hoped Hongbin knew him well enough to go along with the plan.

 

“Good,” Gahyeon murmured. “Because we’re here.”

 

Jaehwan had been to the Metropolitan Museum before, but never to this section. He’d stopped by with Sanghyuk a few times, wandered around the huge Egyptian tomb and glanced at some European paintings, but it was Sanghyuk who really loved the art. It was Sanghyuk who had an artist’s heart and hid it behind sarcasm and espionage, but Jaehwan saw it anyway. He saw it in the way the vampire noticed every detail about the world around him and the people who walked it. In a way, he had an artist’s eye for killing.

 

But regardless, he’d been to the Met before and never known this place existed. It was on the fifth floor, and even though the elevator had a piece of tape reading _Closed for Repairs_ on the button, Hakyeon pressed it without hesitation.

 

(Hakyeon seemed to do many things without hesitation, as if nothing he did had consequences. Did he know, how much of this conflict stemmed from him saying _yes_ to Taekwoon’s request, so long ago? So much would be different had they not come together. Better or worse, Jaehwan couldn’t even begin to say.)

 

The elevator doors opened with a small hiss to expose the windy, late-autumn air and a wonderful view of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline. A small grin slipped across Jaehwan’s lips, unseen by both of his companions. It was a beautiful day to kill Five.

 

The roof was fairly small and fairly empty, containing only a vacant bar with a few stools, some tables, and a large piece of contemporary art resembling a metal cube hanging out in the corner on a patch of grass.

 

And Five. Five, with his overwhelming presence of death and wrongness, so strong that Jaehwan wondered how he’d been able to notice the metal cube before noticing Five, because now he could feel nothing _but_ the vampire.

 

Five met his eyes and Jaehwan’s magic flinched in a manifestation of sparks skittering across his skin, bitter mint swept off the roof by a gust of wind. He forced his heart to steady, forced his magic to settle, because it would have to if this plan was going to work. He forced himself to look at Five, in all his power, and told himself, slowly, confidently, like Hakyeon did things, _It’s not that bad. He’s not that strong. He’s just another dusty vampire. How many of those have you killed?_

 

Did it help? Somewhat. At the very least, the show of sparks made Gahyeon take a few steps away from him, so there was that.

 

And there was Hongbin, tucked in the corner, blindfolded and hands tied palms-together in front of his chest. Looking strikingly smaller than he normally did with his eyes covered.

 

“Hello,” Five said. And his voice was no different from the oily smooth rasp it had been that afternoon on the street. Jaehwan clenched his fingers to keep his hands steady at his side. Five grinned slightly, lopsided smile making Jaehwan’s magic boil in his blood.

 

He wasn’t calm anymore. And perhaps this was going to be a lot harder than he’d expected. Emotions, what fickle things.

 

“Did the sad vampire not come with you?” Five asked, affected interest coloring his voice. “I was so looking forward to seeing him again.”

 

Next to Jaehwan, Gahyeon rolled her eyes.

 

“No,” Hakyeon said. “He’s had enough of your face to last an immortal lifetime.”

 

Hongbin cracked a grin from behind Five.

 

“I hope you’ve come to hand Six over. It would be so disappointing if something were to happen to your _irritating_ Fae at the last second.” He flicked his wrist and Hongbin tensed, exhaling loudly in obvious pain.

 

“Stop,” Jaehwan called. His voice remained steady even if his pulse wasn’t. “We have Gahyeon.”

 

Five raised an eyebrow. “She told you her name?”

 

“Want to join the club, _Five?”_ Gahyeon asked, saccharine.

 

“Not particularly. But come, Gahyeon, let’s be done with this farce.” Five grabbed Hongbin’s arm and dragged him to the middle of the roof. Gahyeon made to step forward, but Five reached out hand.

 

“Wait for a minute. I want the fairy, first.”

 

“What do you want him for?” Hakyeon asked, although everyone already knew.

 

Five spread his hands. “An assurance of good faith, if you will. Hand over your magic so I know this is all true. You could have cloaked any vampire to look like Gahyeon.”

 

“Isn’t your holding Hongbin hostage good faith enough?” Jaehwan stepped forward anyway, hand outstretched. He’d hoped Hongbin would be able to see, so he could maybe convey a message in his eyes, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen. “How do you know I’ll even give you all my magic?”

 

Hongbin cocked his head to the side in that birdlike way of his, fingers twitching. He was listening, Jaehwan knew. Five laughed, and it sounded like the shattering of glass in his throat. “Because you’re not giving it, little fairy, I’m taking it. And where else would it go?” He grasped Jaehwan’s wrist with his cold hands. And Jaehwan shoved the magic from his veins.

 

And Five took it, every last drop, but only the drops that Jaehwan sent sparking through his hand. Because Hongbin had stepped forward, unseen by Five, and brushed his hands across Jaehwan’s arm, absorbing the majority of his energy in seconds as Five’s body struggled to adjust to the overload of magic his veins weren’t meant for.

 

It took all of Jaehwan’s strength to not crash to his knees from the empty void left in his chest, from the lifelessness of his blood running sluggishly through his veins, but he managed. Barely.

 

And then Hongbin stepped back and continued the motion of his hands up to brush his hair off his face, smirking slightly. Mint crackled in the cold air.

 

“Weaker than you were last time, fairy,” Five said, inhaling deeply. _No,_ Jaehwan thought. _Just smarter._

 

Hakyeon gave Jaehwan a wink as he returned to his side of the roof and Gahyeon stepped forward.

 

“Well, Five? Satisfied?” she said. “Let the Fae go.”

 

Five sighed, but cut the zip ties tying Hongbin’s hands together with a dagger-like nail. “Why do you care about these _children,_ Gahyeon? We have spent longer with each other than they have spent on this Earth. Collectively.”

 

Gahyeon shook her head. “When will you understand? Time means nothing. Time is the only thing that kills us.”

 

“Time is what gives us our strength _,”_ Five hissed. Hongbin untangled his hands from the zip ties and ripped the blindfold from his eyes, and Jaehwan almost took a step back from the force of the rage burning within the Fae. But Hongbin met Hakyeon’s eyes and the vampire shook his head minutely, so Hongbin slowly walked to stand beside Jaehwan.

 

He held a hand for Jaehwan to shake. “Glad you could make it.”

 

Jaehwan took his hand and all (most) of his glorious magic rushed back to take its rightful place as his lifeblood. He could sense the scrap flitting through Five’s dead cells, but that would return soon. It was small enough that it could slip out at the slightest provocation, and Five would be able to do nothing to stop it.

 

In the meantime, Five snapped a pair of strange cuffs onto Gahyeon’s wrists. She seemed to… deflate, slightly, in Jaehwan’s opinion. A glow that he never noticed she had disappeared. And he realized the cuffs were somehow suppressing her vampiric traits.

 

“Is this really necessary?” Gahyeon protested. Hakyeon paled slightly, because there went the plan. Gahyeon was supposed to keep Five distracted while Hakyeon prepared his spell, something Five wouldn’t be expecting, but with Gahyeon incapacitated…

 

“Just insurance,” Five said, hand on her shoulder. And it spoke to their history that the touch didn’t even register with Gahyeon.

 

Hongbin’s eyes flitted around the roof and Jaehwan could see his mind racing, trying to figure out what the plan had been, if it had been changed, if there had been one in the first place. But Jaehwan was done with the plan. He was done playing by other people’s rules.

 

Jaehwan slipped the knife he’d hidden up his sleeve (one of Sanghyuk’s tricks– also one of Sanghyuk’s knives) into his hand and sprung forward on glamoured wings, toes barely skimming the ground as he brought the knife slicing across Five’s face. Five barely managed to leap back, eyes widened in surprise.

 

He hadn’t even thought to check a Fae for weapons. And the thin cut across his cheek was testament to his mistake.

 

Pale green energy crested behind Jaehwan, heartbeat pulsing in his ears and easy grin on his face. “You’re not leaving this roof alive, _vampire,”_ he spit. His shadow stretched before him, made stronger with the light behind him.

 

Five narrowed his eyes, dragging Gahyeon behind him. “It would seem everyone has everything they want. Leave now and we can prevent needless bloodshed.”

 

“We aren’t the best at keeping our word,” Hakyeon called from the edge of the roof. “Gahyeon will be leaving with us.”

 

Five hissed through his teeth. “Your words mean little to me. I have millennia on you and your friends and magic coursing through my blood–”

 

“Oh, but you don’t, do you?” Gahyeon interjected, shrugging out of Five’s grasp. “I can smell it on you. Any magic you still have is stolen and fighting you every step of the way. I can feel you weakening the longer you hold onto it. This is not what you were made for. In fact, you were made for a different time altogether, and it’s long past the time you let others step forward and take your place–”

 

“Be that as it may, my _dear Six,”_ Five seethed, “you are the one cuffed and weak right now. I would shut your mouth before you lose your tongue.”

 

Jaehwan could see the similarities between the two, although he wondered how they had lasted so long in the other’s company when they sparked off each other like dynamite. He was frankly surprised this confrontation hadn’t occurred earlier.

 

“How’s that fang doing, bloodsucker?” Jaehwan called, magic twining about his fingers and knife. Hongbin snickered quietly. Hakyeon made a strange noise in his throat, but Jaehwan didn’t look over to see what the heck the vampire was doing. He hoped it had something to do with that spell Taekwoon had taught him.

 

Five snarled, thin lips pulling back from his teeth, but he turned back to Gahyeon. “Come back with me, Gahyeon. We had a connection, you and I. We still do. We come from the same place, the same time–”

 

“Give or take fifty years–” Gahyeon muttered.

 

“–I _know_ you. How many of these new immortals can say that?”

 

Gahyeon flexed her cuffed hands. Jaehwan didn’t know who had the key, if there was one. “Yes,” she said. “You know me. But I don’t _like_ you. And perhaps once I was disillusioned with false idols, but those times are past. I’ve seen the world. I’ve changed. You haven’t.” 

 

Five ran his hands through his hair in the first show of human frustration Jaehwan had seen yet. “We don’t change, Gahyeon. Change is human. We are immortal.”

 

“Change is the only thing that is truly immortal, and it will be your downfall.” Gahyeon’s voice rang louder in the cold silence. From the street a siren split the air. Five glanced towards the city, scanning the street for something.

 

Hongbin started. “I think that was a signal,” he whispered to Jaehwan. “Where are Taekwoon and Sanghyuk? And Wonsik?” 

 

“Wonsik’s at his apartment,” Jaehwan muttered back. “But Taek and Sanghyuk were watching the street. Do you think–”

 

Hakyeon cursed quietly behind them, shoving his phone back into his pocket. “We gotta hurry it up,” he mouthed, gesturing to Five. “Trouble.”

 

“Five, it’s over. Gahyeon isn’t coming with you. Relinquish my friends’ magic and you might be able to leave with your life.” Hakyeon’s voice was calm and steady.

 

Five shook his head. “You were never a good liar, Captain. I could taste your hatred every time you spoke with us.”

 

“Did you expect love?” Hakyeon asked coldly. “Love, when you burned dissenters alive?”

 

“I expected _loyalty,_ but I see you have none.”

 

“My loyalty burned to ashes with my captain.” Hakyeon’s eyes burned with a cold rage. “Now return what you’ve stolen.”

 

Five drops his hands from Gahyeon’s arm and a cloud moved across the sky, revealing the sun that had been hiding in the autumn mist. “You mean this?”

 

His fingers twitched and Jaehwan flinched back as his own shadow distorted in front of him, elongating and peeling itself off the ground. Hongbin cursed, lavender filling the air before it was suddenly snuffed out. Jaehwan whipped around to see the Fae rubbing at his hands, thick black mist swirling around his skin, consuming the violet energy as soon as it left his skin.

 

“What have you done,” Gahyeon gasped, and that was the last Jaehwan heard before his own shadow crept up his legs and a roaring filled his ears. He didn’t know which was worse; having his magic stripped from his blood or having it trapped in his veins, but the cold shadows seemed to suck the very life from his body.

 

He frantically tried to spark something, anything, but nothing came. He could feel his magic pressing against the artificial cage covering his skin. Jaehwan raised his head.

 

Five’s shadow stood next to him, crooked talon-like hands curled around Gahyeon’s neck. Everything about this was unnatural. Jaehwan had never felt magic like it. It smelled nothing like his own did, or Hongbin’s. It coated his tongue and the back of his throat with sulfur and ash, and Jaehwan wanted to cleanse his mouth with fire.

 

Hakyeon, Jaehwan noticed suddenly, was just being held back by his shadow, fangs bared. His hands were free, but his eyes were squeezed closed and knuckles clenched white with tension.

 

“The deal is done,” Five spit. “You have your fairy, now leave. You are out of allies–”

 

“–what do you mean, out of allies–” Jaehwan cut in, suddenly terrified for Sanghyuk.

 

Five ignored him. “–and out of magic. This is a fight you will not win.”

 

Gahyeon struggled against the shadow’s hold to no avail and opened her mouth, but Hongbin spoke before she could.

 

“You’re wrong.”

 

“Unlikely. Now please, leave before I lose what little is left of my patience–”

 

“I said,” Hongbin repeated, wearing the shadows like he was born to. “You’re wrong. On both accounts. And you will burn for this.”

 

The elevator dinged. Hakyeon’s eyes blinked open, and his pupils glowed blue.

 

~~~

 

Wonsik entered the Museum just as a siren screamed across the street. Taekwoon had the entire 82nd and 5th intersection blocked off with a shimmering blue barrier, energy dripping off his skin as a vampire (in a Halal Guys uniform?) burned to ashes before him. Pedestrians walked blindly around the blocked section. Sanghyuk tossed him a smile before cutting the throat of another mercenary, dropping the body to the ground. 

 

“We’ve got this,” he shouted across the busy street, and waved Wonsik into the museum. Taekwoon dropped an edge of the barrier so he could enter, and the ensuing silence of the museum was jarring.

 

A small spark of blue got him through the metal detectors without trouble. He sent Taekwoon a mental thank you card. 

 

Hongbin was five floors above him.

 

And as the elevator doors opened to a scene that looked like it was from a horror movie, living shadows creeping over the walls and over Hongbin’s skin, for a second Wonsik thought Taekwoon had somehow teleported to the roof because a blue sheen reflected against his skin and a sea breeze blew through the air. 

 

But Hakyeon stood in the middle of it all, eyes blue and hands smoking against the shadow holding him captive. And as Wonsik watched, blue light brought ice crawling along the black mist, somehow freezing the intangible solid.

 

Hakyeon flexed his shoulders and the black ice shattered to the ground, thawing against the pavement and melting back into his shadow. Beside him, Jaehwan followed his example, and the sound of splintering ice ruptured the evening. Hongbin took a different route; heat shimmered over his skin and the shadows melted off his hands like black ink.

 

Five froze– not because of Hakyeon’s spell, but because he had never expected to see a vampire that wasn’t a Fae murderer use magic. Hakyeon’s ace had turned the tables in less than ten seconds. Five backed away slightly.

 

Gahyeon hissed in surprise, hand going to her face. A pair of cracked cuffs lay at her feet. Wonsik looked over in surprise; he hadn’t thought anything could hurt the Parliamentarian, but as she lowered her hand, he saw that the shadow’s razor sharp claws had managed to get in a final word. A small but deep cut sliced across her cheek as the last of the inky black slid off her skin, dripping off her chin and, worryingly, into her cut. But that was a problem for another day.

 

Wonsik could feel the magic in the air, the contradiction of Jaehwan’s sharp mint and Hongbin’s deceptively soft lavender, but the Fae quickly called their magic back. Five had overexerted himself and his stolen magic, and he would not get any of it back. 

 

“What–” Five started. “Was that _you?”_ He gestured jerkily to Hakyeon.

 

Before Hakyeon could answer, Wonsik lifted his gun, deftly sighted down the barrel, and pulled the trigger, and although the silencer muffled most of the sharp crack of the gunshot, it was still enough to grab Five’s attention and give the vampire time to flinch out of the way of the killing shot. The bullet took him in the side and blood dripped to the ground.

 

His eyes widened. Jaehwan raised a hand, stopping Wonsik from firing a finishing shot.

 

Five looked down at his chest and seemed surprised when the wound didn’t close. Red blossomed across his shirt. “What–?” he says again, faintly.

 

“Things are changing,” Gahyeon said, shuffling out of the way of the blood so it didn’t get on her shoes. “I only regret that you won’t be there to see the world you built fall to pieces.”

 

Jaehwan stepped forward, eyes still glowing green and air around him rippling with energy. He didn’t say anything, but with a snap of his fingers, the magic disappeared into his skin. He spun the knife lightly between his fingers (a move Wonsik was sure he’d seen Sanghyuk do many times– actually, he thought that might actually be Sanghyuk’s knife) and considered it for a second, before stalking forward.

 

Five stood at the edge of the roof. There was nowhere for him to go, and to be honest, Wonsik didn’t think Five wanted to go anywhere. He’d come for Gahyeon, and without her, it didn’t seem as if he had a purpose. 

 

In one sharp movement, the ease of the movement a testament to his skill, Jaehwan brought the knife across Five’s throat and stepped back, blade loose in his fingers. Five collapsed against the low wall behind him, one arm supporting himself. From behind him, Hongbin spoke.

 

His voice sent ripples down Wonsik’s spine. It hadn’t even been that long, but seeing Hongbin, hearing his voice, and feeling his magic all at once was almost too much.

 

Flames sparked in Hongbin’s hands, pale violet. He smelled of burning lavender. “I want you to know,” he said, hot rage on his lips. “I’ve never killed anyone before. But I will take pleasure in this.”

 

Purple fire licked across Five’s skin like it was dry straw and the Parliamentarian went up in flames against the lights of Manhattan.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yea so school came for me harder than I thought it would, but i'm here now and we keeping that gpa so far. Thanks to everyone who's come this far with me, there's just a little farther yet to go. one chapter left? not written yet, though...
> 
> As always, thanks so much for reading :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promised myself i'd post this before 2020 so here it is :)

God, Hakyeon hated politics.

 

He hated politics  _ so much  _ and anyone who even  _ resembled  _ a politician could take their pretentious attitudes and shove it.

 

But Taekwoon was a politician now, sort of, so Hakyeon was going to have to amend that line of reasoning.

 

And somehow, Taekwoon was a  _ damn good  _ politician. Hakyeon supposed it wasn’t something to be overly surprised about, considering how good the fairy had been at leading the military, but regardless. His voice commanded attention and his power garnered fear. The combination was unbeatable.

 

It was necessary, in the aftermath, to use a healthy measure of both fear and attention. Hakyeon was never one to shrink from unsavory methods, but Taekwoon preferred the clean and narrow path. He ran for Council, which acted in peacetime as replacement of the Queen, and he won. Completely, one-hundred percent, fair and square.

 

(Maybe more like 87%. Hakyeon had definitely snuck into a few Fae apartments during the voting process to do a little off the book campaigning. But Taekwoon didn’t need to know that.)

 

Handong had been happy to accept a position as Taekwoon’s head of public relations, as long as she was allowed a frankly preposterous number of vacation days and a much higher paycheck than someone in her position should receive. 

 

But the Fae council was stable, which was what mattered. Stable and heading in the right direction, de-nuclearizing, if you will. Hongbin helped some with the break-down process, gleefully repurposing his lab into a bioinformatics research center, in which no one would die except from boredom. In Hakyeon’s opinion.

 

Hakyeon left the remnants of vamp government up to the New York Supernatural Agency, who took quick control of the chaotic situation. It was made easier by the majority of vampires’ complete disregard for politics, government, and law enforcement, mostly content to nod, sign whatever paper was waved in their direction, and continue on in the way they always had.

 

Hakyeon, of course, as a member of the now famous group of supernaturals who had assassinated the Parliament, had not been invited to provide his thoughts on the new one.

 

(Neither was Gahyeon, as she had disappeared soon after the events on the Metropolitan Museum room. Soon after, the little cat cafe near the Met put up fliers asking for waiter applicants. Perhaps it was coincidence. But fate had a sense of humor.)

 

And, as Hongbin had raised the point that the Parliament could technically be tried and sentenced for war crimes, the elimination of the Parliament had been simple vigilante justice. Which, as far as excuses go in a world with vampires and Fae tugging at the reigns of reality, was a pretty solid excuse.

 

“Taek!”

 

Hakyeon’s voice cut through the bustle of the Fae headquarters in a manner he was positive Taekwoon would not appreciate, so he made sure to do so with extra determination.

 

On cue, Taekwoon looked up from whatever boring piece of paper he held in his hand and met Hakyeon’s eyes. Hakyeon grinned sharply, scaring off a young Fae who had been offering Taekwoon yet another piece of paper.

 

They were going on a date and no measly paperwork was going to get in Hakyeon’s way. Today it was to a small Italian place in So-Ho, but last week it had been to a club.

 

~~~

 

Well. Outside the club, really, in the back alleyway. Where they had first met, all those years ago, under a blood moon during a strangely cold November. It was all the same as it had been before. If Hakyeon looked closely enough, he imagined he could make out the streaks of blood his hands had left on the rough brick, he imagined he could see the imprint of Taekwoon’s palms in the wall.

 

He imagined he could taste Taekwoon’s blood on his tongue and magic coursing through his blood, and then, all too suddenly, he could, because Taekwoon’s head was on his shoulder and Hakyeon’s lips were on his neck, the warmth of his skin almost burning in the chilled air. 

 

When Hakyeon pulled away, lips stained dark, he pulled his favorite knife from its location shoved in his boot. 

 

“Look,” he said, showing the blade to Taekwoon. The fairy’s eyes were still glazed from the bite. He frowned.

 

“Would you stab me, after all we’ve been through?”

 

Hakyeon laughed, bright and clear against the empty street. “Not with this knife. This one’s my favorite.” He flipped the weapon so the metal caught the light. “See?”

 

“It’s water lilies, right?” Taekwoon murmured. The proximity of his lips to Hakyeon’s ear was disconcerting. “I always thought that was a weird choice for a knife.”

 

“Of course it’s a weird choice. That’s what makes it a fashion statement.”

 

Taekwoon huffed quietly. Not a laugh, but close enough.

 

“But that’s not why I picked water lilies.” Taekwoon raised an eyebrow. “It’s because of  _ you,  _ Taek,” Hakyeon continued, pointing the knife at the fairy in a way that would feel very threatening to anyone else. “Because the last time we were here, when I was high off turning and high off your magic, your blood looked like flowers on the wet ground, and it burned itself into my brain until I burned it into my knife.”

 

He tossed a wink at the fairy. “And you’ve burned yourself onto my heart.”

 

Taekwoon groaned. “It was a nice speech until that last line.”

 

“Was it? Really?” Hakyeon shoved the knife back into his boot and wrapped his arms around Taekwoon’s neck.

 

“A little disturbing. But cute.”

 

“A little disturbing but cute,” Hakyeon repeated, as the two walked back towards their shared apartment. “I’ll take it.”

 

~~~

 

They caught a cab to the restaurant because Hakyeon didn’t fancy walking eighteen blocks, even if the weather was nice. His shoes were made for fashion, not comfort. 

 

“Think Jaehwan might stop by any time soon?” Hakyeon mused. “It’s been a while.”

 

Taekwoon shrugged. “Who knows what those two are doing.” He glanced out the window and watched the city flit by. The cabby might’ve had one of those sea salt air fresheners, or Taekwoon might’ve been vibing, Hakyeon couldn’t tell. Regardless, the cab smelled like the beach.

 

“Feeling particularly sparky today?” Because he’d have to tone it down for the restaurant, just a little bit.

 

Taekwoon shrugged again, closing his eyes. “I’m just. Happy, I suppose.”

 

Happy. Hakyeon smiled softly. That was a good word for it.

  
  


~~~

 

 

Was it easier to start a war, or end it? Hongbin couldn’t say, but his lab job was certainly a little more enjoyable when his research wasn’t being used to bomb vamp covens halfway to hell. 

 

And personally, he thought everything had gone quite well, in the end. All things considered, Taekwoon should be happy with the outcome. Hongbin was a bit of a pessimist (he would  _ prefer  _ to be called  _ realistic,  _ thank you very much, but. In this day and age, how dissimilar were those two words, really?) and, that being said, anything less than the complete and utter annihilation of the Tri-state area was a win in his books. And as far as he could tell, none of the humans had even known war was happening.

 

Outside of Hakyeon’s Extremely Convincing Talk with the director of the Metropolitan Museum, during which he managed to convince the poor man that the fire in the rooftop garden had been a new piece of interactive art designed around the  _ fire of the human soul _ , and somehow also secured an invitation to next year’s Met Gala, nothing had even made the news. 

 

(That wasn’t strictly true– a certain underground supernaturally affiliated newspaper had been releasing a steady stream of updates after the death of each parliamentarian, but Hongbin didn’t read the newspaper on the basis that he thought himself above such petty matters of state. Wonsik did, though, and he enjoyed the random bits of information to which Hongbin was, by some strange occurrence, oblivious to.

 

“Do you think aliens live on the moon?” Wonsik had asked once, during a lazy afternoon. It made sense at the time. He was a vampire in New York City, after all. Hongbin was basking in a square of sunlight, very much like a cat.

 

“How would I know, I’ve never been.”

 

“Do you suppose they would have seen our flag as a horrible colonization attempt?”

 

“Our flag?”

 

“Yeah. The one we put on the moon.”

 

There was a crash as Hongbin rolled off his sunny couch. “We’ve been to the moon?”)

 

But. That was beside the point. The point being...

 

The point being, Siyeon’s grave was as he had left it, as it had looked for the past few years, as it would look for the rest of eternity, for the marble was enchanted with a spell and imbued with the faint scent of lavender and it would stand amongst the grass even as the city that never slept crumbled to dust around it. If she couldn’t live forever, Hongbin would at least make sure something did. 

 

He knelt in the grass, and normally he’d have been hesitant about ruining his clothes in the early morning dew, but the cold grounded him. He welcomed the cold, the wet grass, the gravestone in front of him, and all that it brought.

 

“Siyeon.”

 

The name felt out of place on his tongue, like it shouldn’t be spoken to a grave but rather something else. Something alive.

 

(And he must look ridiculous, Hongbin thought bitterly, on his knees in front of a small headstone tucked away in a corner, clouds entering the grey sky. It might rain, but he’d still be here.)

 

Hongbin gathered his thoughts, tears already blurring the sight of the grass beneath his knees. “Siyeon, I just wanted to say. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to do anything for you. That I wasn’t close enough to help. That all I have of you is this fucking rock in a mortal graveyard, that I don’t even remember what your last words to me were. That I don’t remember what mine were to you.”

 

He shakily inhaled, breath white against the air. “And I’m sorry for not being brave enough to follow my dreams like you were. Because you were just so powerful and strong and  _ confident  _ that I somehow felt lost next to you. I didn’t know where to go, what to do, so I did nothing. I did nothing for so that I almost forgot what it felt like to feel something. Anything.

 

But, Siyeon, now I do. I feel so much now. I  _ know  _ now, where I want to go. Who I want to be. Who I want to be  _ with.  _ And I regret that you won’t meet him, because he’s wonderful and bright and makes me feel warm in a way I didn’t know was possible.”

 

A laugh shuddered from deep in his chest. “Isn’t that funny? He’s teaching me things, Siyeon. I have three PhDs and I’m still oblivious. But perhaps a little less, now.”   
  
The gravestone was white marble, clouded with wear but not chipped, never chipped.  _ Lee Siyeon,  _ it read. And that was it. No birth year, for obvious reasons, but no words either, because, in the aftermath, Hongbin, whose greatest power had always been that of words, had none. But now he did.

 

“I miss you, Siyeon, sister, so much. Every day. But it doesn’t hurt like it used to. And for the first time, I’m not terrified that the lessening pain lessens your memory.” Hongbin blinked tears from his eyes.

 

“All this to say,” he whispered, glancing up at the sky. “I’m leaving New York. With Wonsik. I’m quitting my job and we’re going to Boston. I’ll apply for tenure at Harvard or MIT or something. It’s not too far, but far enough.”

 

He sat back on his heels. “It won’t be for long, of course. Long enough for a breath of fresh air, a new city. New feelings.” As he spoke, the last threateningly grey cloud evaporated in the morning sun. Perhaps it wouldn’t rain after all.

 

“This city’s in my blood, you know. It’s tattooed itself into my skin. I couldn’t escape it if I wanted to.” 

 

For a moment, there was silence. The sounds from the street quieted until Hongbin could hear the creaking of the old tree arched over his head, and, in the new quiet, he thought he heard a whisper.

 

_ Hummingbird… _

 

But Hongbin had three PhDs and a genius level IQ, and knew that such a thing could never be possible. Regardless, he smiled.

 

He blinked away the last haze of tears and rose to his feet, brushing off his pants with a lavender scented gust of wind. 

 

Wonsik was waiting for him at the gates.

  
  


~~~

  
  


 

The stars seemed closer from the mountains of Nepal.

 

Sanghyuk didn’t think he’d ever seen a sky so dark and yet so bright at the same time, so many stars they looked like dust scattered across a black canvas.

 

(They looked beautiful in the sky, of course. But Sanghyuk thought they looked even prettier in Jaehwan’s eyes.)

 

_ (God, what kind of sentimental sap has he become.) _

 

A cool breeze snapped across his face. Nepal, so far, was at the top of his list. Next was Hawaii, then Belize, then Peru, Amsterdam, and others whose memories, even after so many years, remained clear around the edges, colors as vivid as the day he’d first arrived. 

 

It would take far too long to tell of the sights he’d seen, the places he’d been, since those months in New York that had felt like the climax of his life. (It was hard, sometimes, to convince himself that the constant travelling was simply for exploration purposes. The thrill of seeing new things. It was, mostly. But it was also a search for the high he’d felt thrumming through his blood and bones over those tension-riddled months with Hakyeon, and Hongbin and Taekwoon and Wonsik and, most of all, Jaehwan. Was that bad? Was it bad to almost wish the war wasn’t over, because it had been useless and cruel but most of all  _ unpredictable,  _ and that, in the end, was what drew Sanghyuk across the world.)

 

He’d been in Nepal for two weeks now, not one of his longer stays by any means. He’d stayed in Bruges, Belgium for almost a year before the gothic churches and soaring buttresses grew tiresome on his eyes, before Jaehwan finally broke and purchased two non-refundable tickets back to New York while Sanghyuk was out hunting along the canals.

 

But Nepal was better than Belgium, Sanghyuk decided. There was something to be said for the stars. And whatever lay beyond them.

 

A soft curse beside him drew his attention from the sky. Jaehwan wriggled uncomfortably on the thin blanket he’d created from moss lining the rocks along the mountain path. 

 

“You know, we could’ve looked at the stars from our hotel,” he muttered. “I think there’s a rock up my ass.”

 

Sanghyuk snorted. “You’ve had larger things up your ass.”

 

“That’s  _ not the point.”  _ Jaehwan’s high-pitched hiss cut through the night easily. He was good at that, Sanghyuk mused. Grounding. “My point is, we could be  _ comfortable,  _ but  _ no,  _ you just  _ had to hike up a fucking mountain to look at the stars.”  _

 

“But you like them.”

 

“Unfortunately.”

 

“So it’s worth it?”

 

“... Unfortunately.”

 

A grin slipped across Sanghyuk’s lips, fangs hard glints of light in the soft darkness. Jaehwan was his one constant. The one that kept his feet firmly on the ground even if his eyes were on the stars, whose gravitational field dragged him close and kept him there.

 

The aftermath had been… strange, to say the least. It had been a weird time for everyone. Hongbin was slightly pissed at Jaehwan, Wonsik was  _ very  _ pissed at Jaehwan, and Jaehwan was tired of people being pissed at him. Now, of course, no one was mad at anyone anymore. (Well. Hakyeon was irritated with Sanghyuk and Jaehwan’s random visits to the vampire’s apartment, unexpected and uninvited but not necessarily unwelcome. In Sanghyuk’s opinion, where was the fun in  _ announcing  _ your arrival when you could just… arrive?)

 

But Sanghyuk had long since abandoned all pretense of caring about the New York supernatural scene. He remembered one of the last days he’d spent there before the boredom became overwhelming and he’d booked a direct flight to Colombia, Jaehwan standing framed against a patch of dusty sunlight. 

 

~~~

 

The New York Society Library looked the same as it had when Sanghyuk had visited all those months ago, with Hakyeon at his side, searching for information on the Parliamentarians and instead finding the most dangerous one herself. It hadn’t been hard to get into, once he remembered the code and dealt with the cringe attack the question brought, but it was all for Jaehwan anyway. 

 

Brian the objectively handsome librarian was still there, although he looked a little less nervous this time around. And he took them quickly through the winding hallways to a door that smelled of pine and mountains and something dark and secret, centuries old.

 

Jaehwan’s eyes sparked as the magic running through the door recognized the scent of his blood, and the door opened on impossibly smooth hinges.

 

And truly, this was everything Sanghyuk had imagined it being and more. Jaehwan, slender and pale and glowing in the dim lighting, against the backdrop of history and magic and secrets unknown. It fit, in a way that things rarely did.

 

Jaehwan ran his fingers over the bindings. Leather and plastic and paper and something Sanghyuk thought might be human skin shuddered under his touch. A couple books fluttered off the shelves in a rustle of paper and dust to alight on a small armchair nearby.

 

The fairy said nothing until hours later, when they left the room.

 

“I didn’t know that was there.” Quietly, softly, reverently.

 

It took Sanghyuk a minute to respond. “No more secrets, didn’t we say?”

 

~~~

 

No more secrets, he’d said, but he still had one, held close to his chest. Not a ring, because Fae weren’t quite fond of rings and Jaehwan wore too much jewelry anyway for it too mean much, but a collection of words, including but not limited to  _ I  _ and  _ love  _ and  _ you,  _ extending to ones such as  _ forever  _ and  _ stay.  _ Hopefully, when Sanghyuk finally let go of this one last secret, Jaehwan would understand.

 

“Let’s go back to New York soon,” the fairy in question said, twining his fingers through Sanghyuk’s hair, combing the strands back from his face. “I miss the others.”

 

“Mmm.”

 

The others. Sanghyuk missed Hakyeon, sometimes, when he remembered he was supposed to. He missed Hongbin’s sharp wit and the tingles Taekwoon’s magic sparked across his skin. And sometimes, he even missed Wonsik, and the warmth of his eyes. But mostly he just thought about what he wanted to do next, what he wanted to see.

 

And there were so many things he wanted to see that he hardly had time to think of anything else.

 

Jaehwan’s hand paused in its movements. “Sanghyuk?”

 

“New York is nice this time of year, I suppose,” Sanghyuk conceded. “And I’ve heard there’s a new exhibit at the Met.”

 

Jaehwan grinned, victorious. “It won’t be there forever, you know.”

 

Of course it wouldn’t. Everything was temporary. But Sanghyuk, with Jaehwan keeping him grounded, was immortal. He could outlive the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm kind of in shock at my finishing this. It honestly feels strange to Not be thinking abt my fic, hanging out on my computer, waiting for me to come write something. So. I hope you guys enjoyed it, somewhat. That it pleasantly wasted a few hours of your life. There may... MAY... be something else coming, if anyone's interested in what's going on with Gahyeon and Yoobin. Who knows. Stay tuned, and come find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/vixxoIogist)!
> 
> thanks so much for reading :)


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